Ad description
An e-mail from Health Service Discounts stated "Enjoy a 2015 family holiday now up to 50% off …". The Haven Holidays logo was included and an accompanying image showed a family running across a beach.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that school holidays were excluded from the 50% off offer, challenged whether the e-mail was irresponsible.
Response
Brinc Ltd explained that the content of the e-mail had been supplied by Bourne Leisure Group for distribution among members of the Health Service Discounts scheme.
Haven Leisure Ltd explained that there were different offers throughout the year and the headline claim was "up to 50% off" and applied to holidays with discounts of 30% and 50%. They said all dates, including summer school holidays, Easter and May Half Term were included within the message of "save up to 50%" but holidays at those times had a lower percentage discount of 30%.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that recipients of the e-mail would infer, from the headline claim "Enjoy a 2015 family holiday now up to 50% off", together with the image of a family with two school-age children on a beach, that it was possible for families with school-age children to take advantage of holidays with discounts of up to 50%.
We understood from the offer terms and conditions that the maximum 50% discount offered in the headline claim applied to "7 nights or more in Spring, May, June, early July and Autumn (excluding school and Bank Holiday dates)". Bourne had pointed out that the discount was expressed as an 'up to' claim and that it was possible to book a holiday with a discount of 30% during school holiday periods.
We were concerned, however, that it was only possible to book a family holiday with the 50% discount advertised during term-time and in order to take advantage of the maximum discount offer families would need to take their children out of school.
Because the e-mail promoted a discount offer to families of school-age children that was available only during term-time, we concluded that it was irresponsible.
The e-mail breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.3 1.3 Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. (Social responsibility).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Brinc Ltd and Bourne Leisure Group to avoid promoting family breaks which were available only during school term-times.
