ASA Adjudication on easyJet Airline Co Ltd
easyJet Airline Co Ltd
Easy Land
London Luton Airport
Bedfordshire
LU2 9LS
Date:
24 October 2007
Media:
Radio
Sector:
Holidays and travel
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
33422
Ad
A radio ad, for easyJet flights, featured a conversation between two women. One woman said "... our Spanish whole body tan, madam is just £35.99". The other woman replied "What? I can fly there and get the real thing for half that". The voiceover then stated "easyJet's massive Summer sale is on now. Get away in July or August to places like Alicante, Parma and Malaga. Well, with prices this low it'll be rude not to".
Issue
A listener challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied flights to Alicante, Parma and Malaga could be obtained for half the price mentioned in the ad.
BCAP Radio Code
2 - 17;2 - 3
Response
Easyjet explained that the ad had not stated a price for flights and that the conversation about the Spanish tan at the beginning of the ad was a humorous way to introduce their sale. They said they had no plans to repeat the ad.
The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) said they had not received information on all flight prices, but they sent a copy of correspondence from Easyjet which stated that they had at least 10% availability of flights costing £18 including taxes.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the correspondence the RACC provided showed that Easyjet had assured them that flights were available from less than £18 inclusive of taxes and that they had reasonable availability. However, we considered that the claim "I can fly there and get the real thing for half that" did not make sufficiently clear that flights were available "from" £18 and implied all one-way flights to Alicante, Parma and Malaga in July and August were available at £18 inclusive of taxes and charges. Because the ad did not make clear that most flights during that period would cost more than £18 and because no evidence of flight price or availability was supplied to the ASA, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2, rules 3 (Misleadingness) and 17 (Price claims and VAT).
Action
The ad should not be repeated.
Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)