Ryanair reports Aer Lingus for misleading ad

The gloves are always off when it comes to the battle for the skies, but the latest round goes to Ryanair for having its main rival taken to task for misleading advertising.

The no-frills airline reported Aer Lingus to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, arguing that its ad for “Britain and Europe up to ½ off” was misleading because the discount only applied to the fare before taxes and charges and not to the total price.

The ad, which ran on the national carrier’s website, offered customers “up to a half off fares to Britain” or “venture further afield and explore Europe, or catch some rays with our winter sun routes — all with up to half off!”

In its objection to the advertising watchdog, Ryanair referred to statutory regulation which requires that pricing for air fares must include all non-optional taxes, fees and charges and, in the circumstances, Ryanair considered the discount should apply to the full cost, not just the fare before taxes and charges.

Aer Lingus rejected the claim that the offer was misleading, saying the terms and conditions of the offer were “clearly displayed in the advertisement for each element of the promotion”.

It referred to its email advertising which contained terms and conditions that stated that the discounts ranged from 5% to 50% off the fare before taxes, charges, and administration fee.

Aer Lingus also stated that the landing page of its website included a statement that stated “Up to ½ off discount applies to fares before taxes and charges”.

However, the ASAI complaints committee ruled in Ryanair’s favour and instructed Aer Lingus to ensure that “essential terms were included prominently so that headline offers did not exaggerate the benefits available to consumers”.

Elsewhere, two complaints about a TV ad featuring West Coast Cooler, an alcoholic drink made by Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard, were not upheld. The complainants argued that the ad, in which three women end up dancing around an apartment, using a bottle of West Coast Cooler as a microphone, was promoting underage drinking on the basis that at least two of the women who featured looked to be aged 16-18.

One complainant also considered that the ad was implying that the product had caused the women to “come alive” and start dancing. He considered that the general tone of the advertisement had suggested that drinking alcohol was a disinhibitor and made you “cool”. He also objected to the time the ad was aired, before 9pm, as he considered this was a time when a teen audience would be viewing.

Irish Distillers argued that their target market was females aged 25-30 and they provided research to show the largest consumption group for West Coast Cooler was 22- to 27-year-olds.

The advertisers provided a copy of the passport of each of the three actors featured in the ad, which confirmed they were all over the age of 25.