Ad description
An ad for the Cedar Court Hotel, heard on Stray FM, featured the voices of three children comparing how special their mothers were. One child said "My dad says my mum's so special he's taking her to the Cedar Court Hotel for Mother's Day lunch". A woman's voice said "Harrogate's most special mums will be looked after at the Cedar Court Hotel for Mother's Day this year. If your mum's worth it, call [telephone number]".
Issue
A listener challenged whether the ad unfairly targeted children.
Response
Cedar Court Hotels said the ad had run in previous years without comment. They said that, compared with market competition at the time of the ad, the Cedar Court Hotel would not be considered "expensive". They said that, while the ad used children's voices, it was aimed at the father to decide whether, if they were going out for lunch, it would be to the Cedar Court. They said they did not intend to target families with young children and that, of the guests who ate Mother's Day lunch in the restaurant, only 5.5% were children under the age of 18 years.
Stray FM endorsed Cedar Court Hotels' response.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA noted that the ad featured children talking about their mothers, with one saying that, because hers was so special, her father was taking her to the hotel for Mother's Day lunch. We considered the ad was aimed at adults or fathers and suggested lunch at the hotel was a possible treat for the children's mothers, but we did not consider that it was something that was likely to hold particular appeal for the children themselves. In that context, we did not consider that the children's conversation was likely to encourage children who heard the ad to ask their parents or guardians to purchase or enquire about lunch at the hotel and that it did not unfairly target them.
We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules 1.2 1.2 Advertisements must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to the audience and to society. (Responsible advertising) and 5.6 5.6 Advertisements must not imply that children are likely to be ridiculed, inferior to others, less popular, disloyal or have let someone down if they or their family do not use a product or service. 5.7 5.7 Advertisements must not take advantage of children's inexperience, credulity or sense of loyalty. Advertisements for products or services of interest to children must not be likely to mislead; for example, by exaggerating the features of a product or service in a way that could lead to children having unrealistic expectations of that product or service. 5.8 5.8 Child actors may feature in advertisements but care must be taken to ensure that those advertisements neither mislead nor exploit children's inexperience, credulity or sense of loyalty. and 5.9 5.9 Advertisements must not include a direct exhortation to children to buy or hire a product or service or to persuade their parents, guardians or other persons to buy or hire a product or service for them. (Children) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
