ASA Adjudication on Ryanair Ltd

Ad

Press ads in the Herald, Daily Mail and Scottish Daily Mail were headed "HOTTEST BACK TO SCHOOL FARES." Underneath the heading was a picture of a teenage girl or woman standing in a classroom and wearing a version of a school uniform consisting of a short tartan skirt, a cropped short sleeved shirt and tie and long white socks. Body copy stated one way fares to Derry, Belfast, Budapest, Grenoble and Stockholm (Skavsta) were £10 including taxes and charges. A footnote stated "Book until midnight 23.08.07. Subject to availability, terms & conditions. Flights direct from Glasgow (Prestwick)."

Issue

The ASA received complaints from 13 readers.  They believed it was offensive to show what appeared to be a schoolgirl posing and dressing provocatively and that the ad implied there were sexual connotations to the image.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Ryanair said the ad ran in three national daily newspapers with a combined circulation of 3.5 million.  They said that, in that context, they considered 13 complaints was an insignificant number, which they believed clearly demonstrated the overwhelming majority of UK residents did not find the ad offensive.

Ryanair disagreed that the ad suggested sexual connotations.  They believed it was obvious that the image was of a woman fully clothed and that the short skirt and bare midriff were representative of the type of clothing that was fashionable among young women in the UK.  They believed the ad was likely to be found offensive only by the minority of people who were likely to find any such representation objectionable.  They believed the ad was considerably less suggestive than much of what appeared regularly in ads or other promotions in UK media.

The Herald said they had received a complaint from one reader about the ad and that they were not prepared to run it again.

The Daily Mail and Scottish Daily Mail said they had not received complaints direct from their readers but nevertheless would not run the ad again.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered the model's clothing, which included long white socks and a tie, together with the setting of the ad in a classroom strongly suggested she was a schoolgirl.  We considered that her appearance and pose, in conjunction with the heading "HOTTEST," appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour and was irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Social responsibility) and 5.1 (Decency).

Action

We welcomed The Herald and the Daily and Scottish Mails's assurances that they would not run the ad again.  We told Ryanair to withdraw the ad and to ensure that future ads complied with the CAP Code.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)