ASA Adjudication on British Airways plc

Ad

A TV ad for British Airways showed street scenes of Guangzhou (also known as Canton) and preparations being made at an indoor venue, which gradually filled with people. The voice-over stated "Preparations are underway for the world's largest trade fair here in China. This year's Canton Fair opens on the 15 October for three weeks, and will see two billion dollars worth of trade every day. Right now, somewhere in the world, is a great business opportunity. And no one can fly you to more of them, direct from the UK, than British Airways ...".

Issue

A viewer challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that British Airways flew direct from the UK to Guangzhou (Canton), where the Canton Fair was held.

BCAP TV Code

Response

British Airways plc (BA) explained that the ad was part of their 'World of Opportunities' campaign, which featured a number of events that customers could experience, such as the Serengeti wildebeest migration, Mumbai Fashion Week and the Rodeo Finals in Las Vegas. They said the purpose of the campaign was not to promote any individual event or any specific route, but to demonstrate the diversity of events that took place all over the world and to promote the fact that BA flew to more destinations direct from the UK than any other airline. BA said, in this instance, the ad aimed to highlight what is commonly regarded as the biggest business opportunity in China - the Canton Fair.

BA pointed out that the ad made no reference to a specific route between the UK and Guangzhou, and they explained that it was not possible to fly directly from the UK to Guangzhou with any airline. They said they currently operated 14 flights per week between London and Hong Kong, where customers could connect to a flight to Guangzhou. The onward journey from Hong Kong was also possible by train, bus and ferry and took between one and two hours, depending on the mode of transport. BA said they also operated direct flights from the UK to Beijing and Shanghai, where connections to Guangzhou could also be made. They provided documentation detailing the onward transfer options from Hong Kong to Guangzhou.

BA said, in the week preceding the Canton Fair (15 October to 4 November), they experienced an upturn in volume on flights to Hong Kong compared with the previous two weeks in September, which suggested customers were travelling via Hong Kong to the fair. They said that was consistent with the period of the fair in previous years.

Clearcast said they interpreted the ad to mean that BA could fly customers to various business destinations throughout the world, rather than that they flew directly to Guangzhou. They argued that, although the ad featured the Canton Fair, it did not claim that BA flew there. They said they understood that BA flew directly to Hong Kong, where convenient connections could be made for the short onward journey to the Canton Fair.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted that connections could be made to Guangzhou from Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. However, we considered that the specific focus on the Canton Fair in the voice-over and visuals, alongside the claim "Right now, somewhere in the world, is a great business opportunity. And no one can fly you to more of them, direct from the UK, than British Airways", would be understood by consumers to mean that the Canton Fair was one of the business opportunities that BA flew direct to from the UK. Because we understood that was not the case, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1, 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 (Misleading advertising).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)