ASA Adjudication on Aer Lingus Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad, for Aer Lingus, advertised flights from Heathrow to Dublin, Cork and Shannon from £26 and featured a photograph of a Yeoman Warder, in a green Irish hat and royal military uniform, in front of London's Tower Bridge. The ad was headlined "Someone's had a great time in Dublin".

Issue

Historic Royal Palaces thought the ad was misleading, because it implied the Tower of London and its Yeoman Warders endorsed Aer Lingus. They explained that they had a Memorandum of Understanding with the Royal Household that they would not endorse commercial companies or products. They said Aer Lingus had not requested their permission to use the image of a Tower Yeoman Warder.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Rothco responded on behalf of Aer Lingus. They said the image of the Yeoman Warder was a rights-managed shot, purchased from Getty Images (GI), and they had ensured that the actor featured in the image had signed the appropriate permission release form and that the full usage of the image had been cleared by the photography licensing company; they sent documentation to confirm that. They argued that it was clear that the actor was not a real Yeoman Warder and, therefore, readers would not think Yeoman Warders endorsed Aer Lingus. They said Aer Lingus would not have benefited from an association with Yeoman Warders and the image was used only to show an identifiable English character, to demonstrate their service from London to Dublin.

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Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA understood that Rothco had bought the image from GI who, in turn, had rights to the image. We noted the ad promoted flights from London to Dublin and the two cities were represented by the image of a Yeoman Warder, wearing an Irish hat and standing in front of Tower Bridge. We also noted that the Yeoman Warder was not a real one, but an actor who had given written permission for usage of his image. We considered that the Yeoman Warder in the image was likely to be seen merely as an illustration of the Aer Lingus service from London to Ireland; we considered that readers were unlikely to infer that the ad depicted a real Yeoman Warder. We acknowledged that Historic Royal Palaces were concerned that the ad implied Yeoman Warders endorsed Aer Lingus. However, we considered that readers were unlikely to interpret the ad in that way and therefore were unlikely to be misled.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 13.1 (Protection of privacy) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)