ASA Adjudication on Vacaciones eDreams S.L.

Ad

A sponsored link on a flight price comparison site was headlined "Moscow Flights from £20". Text underneath stated "Special Offers until 31 May: Book Low Cost Flights to Moscow!".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the claim "Moscow Flights from £20" was misleading because in his experience the cheapest flight offered from London to Moscow was £250.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Vacaciones eDreams S.L. (Vacaciones eDreams) said the wording of the sponsored link was determined by Google's display algorithms and that although the ad came up as a result of searches from flights from London to Moscow, the ad itself did not refer to the place of departure. They said they had no way of controlling what Google included in the sponsored link.

They did not respond to the challenge that flights were available to Moscow from £20.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Vacaciones eDreams did not consider themselves responsible for the wording of ads that were generated through Google's adsense programme because they believed this was not within their control. We reminded Vacaciones eDreams, however, that marketers were responsible for ensuring the content of their sponsored links complied with the CAP Code(s).

We noted Vacaciones eDreams had not provided evidence to demonstrate that flights to Moscow were available from £20 and considered that the claim "Moscow Flights from £20" had not been substantiated. We concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.6 (Non-response) 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 16.4 (Availability), 27.4 (Sales promotion rules) and 30.1 (Sales promotion rules - availability).

Action

The ad should not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)