ASA Adjudication on Euro Disney Associ?s SCA

Ad

A TV ad showed a series of rides at Disneyland Paris. The voice-over stated "Hop over to the magic of Disneyland Paris and meet all your family's favourite characters. From January 3 to April 1 enjoy two nights three days from only £150 per adult in a Disney hotel. Plus all kids go free ... ". The text "all kids go free" appeared in gold on the screen. On-screen text stated "One paying adult per room. Kids under 12. Excludes transport ... ".

Issue

The viewer challenged whether the ad was misleading, because they believed the claim "All kids go free" was contradicted by the on-screen text "kids under 12".

BCAP TV Code

Response

Euro Disney Associs SCA (Euro Disney) said the ad clearly stated on screen that children had to be under the age of 12 to be eligible for the offer and also invited the viewer to check full terms and conditions on their website. They said it was common in the airline industry to define children as 2 to 11 years of age and attached examples.

Clearcast said they had made sure the material parts of the offer were made clear to the viewer. They said "kids" referred to younger children (aged 12 and under) and airlines used a similar classification when pricing air fares. They said Eurostar (the other popular way of travelling to the park) had a similar policy with children aged 4 to 11 enjoying lower prices than "youths" (classified as 12 to 25).

Although they felt confident "all kids" was consistent with the travel and holiday industrys classification of a child they had, nonetheless, requested that the advertiser include the qualifying text "kids under 12".

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the travel and holiday industry generally defined "kids" as younger children aged 2 to 11. However, we considered the average viewer might not hold such a specific definition, and the claim "All kids go free" was contradicted rather than clarified by the claim "kids under 12". Because of that, we concluded the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.3 (Qualifications).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)