Page 8 | On the Beach advert. Is it just me?

graceinspace999 · 16/01/2025 22:25

TorroFerney · 16/01/2025 18:30

How do we know they are northern, do they speak?

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Because they’re ‘awful.’

TorroFerney · 17/01/2025 07:19

graceinspace999 · 16/01/2025 22:25

Because they’re ‘awful.’

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Right well that will allow me to identify my fellow northerners on holiday!

graceinspace999 · 17/01/2025 08:09

’Awful’ is how a family of ‘northerners’ are described up thread.

saraclara · 17/01/2025 08:56

StockpotSoup · 16/01/2025 12:16

YABU. It’s a crap advert and I’d walk into traffic to avoid the family in it, but I can’t get worked up about something sounding vaguely like “fucking” if you try really hard to hear it.

I do wonder why they use such obviously non-aspirational characters in the ad, but maybe it’s a deliberate contrast to the typical holiday ads where everyone looks glamorous - a kind of “You too can enjoy lounge access even though you’re not thin, rich and beautiful” hook. They’ve been running the campaign for years, so it must be working somehow.

Not only has it put me off the company, it's also put me off booking a lounge if it's now going to be full of people like that family.

(And no northerner prejudice here, I married one)

kierenthecommunity · 17/01/2025 09:36

My DS (12) hears one of the radio ads where Paddy is talking about ‘smart bookers’ and ‘silly bookers.’ He frowned a bit and said ‘does he want us to think he’s saying buggers?’ I replied ‘yes dear.’ 🤣

I didn’t realise there was a man annoying family in the ads as I rarely watch anything live on TV and fast forward the breaks.

PMG was funny in Pheonix Nights but that was as Peter Kay’s sidekick and twenty years ago. I could live without hearing his voice again. His Bolton accent is as exaggerated as Cilia's Liverpudlian one.

DerekFaker · 17/01/2025 11:40

I'm kind of warming to On The Beach if there's a guarantee that the more unpleasant posters in this thread won't use them 😆

SerenityNowSerenityNow · 17/01/2025 11:48

I'm kind of warming to On The Beach if there's a guarantee that the more unpleasant posters in this thread won't use them 😆

You make a great point!
I also reckon a holiday with 'Wetherspoons women' ( as I was called yesterday) would be a right laugh!

Dotjones · 17/01/2025 11:51

Well it's the same as the "booking dot com, booking dot yeah" one of a couple of years ago. It sounds like a swearword but isn't so they can get away with it, the same as an advert can feature someone who is basically naked in a bath but so long as they don't show genitals it's allowed.

CeCe45 · 17/01/2025 11:53

AnotherDayAnotherIdea · 15/01/2025 22:43

Which advert? I just looked it up and the songs were aux champs elysees or teenage dirt again. Is there another one?

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Maybe I’ve got the advert wrong but the song is Best Friend by Doja Cat and the lyrics are so obvious even when muted out

Welsford · 20/01/2025 00:50

MoodySky · 15/01/2025 19:57

Or is it borderline offensive? I like to swear as well as the next person but this just sounds so crude and awful. I can imagine if you're a bit hard of hearing then you'd be quite shocked.

I don't often get annoyed by this type of thing but this is really winding me up at the moment.

On the beach advert, my six year old granddaughter wanted to know why the man was swearing.

Welsford · 20/01/2025 00:54

On the beach advert . My six year old granddaughter wanted to know why the man was swearing. Awful advert which comes out before the 9pm deadline.

SerenityNowSerenityNow · 20/01/2025 07:50

Welsford · 20/01/2025 00:54

On the beach advert . My six year old granddaughter wanted to know why the man was swearing. Awful advert which comes out before the 9pm deadline.

It might be an awful advert but it's not swearing.
Just explain that it might sound like it's swearing but it's not.

ZanzibarIsland · 20/01/2025 08:03

I thought of this thread when I saw a Veggie brand in Tesco called "What the Cluck!"

InSearchOfMartin · 20/01/2025 08:43

ZanzibarIsland · 20/01/2025 08:03

I thought of this thread when I saw a Veggie brand in Tesco called "What the Cluck!"

There's a range of toiletries with amusing names, some a bit cheekier than others.

Sexy Mother Pucker (plumping gloss)
Hand Relief (hand cream)
Endless Glove (hand cream again)
Fruity Call

I think it's Soap and Glory, haven't used them for years.

graceinspace999 · 20/01/2025 09:30

DerekFaker · 17/01/2025 11:40

I'm kind of warming to On The Beach if there's a guarantee that the more unpleasant posters in this thread won't use them 😆

Edited

It’s one of their lesser known marketing tactics

SerenityNowSerenityNow · 20/01/2025 09:46

Sexy Mother Pucker (plumping gloss).

I love this product! And it's name 😂

InSearchOfMartin · 20/01/2025 10:29

SerenityNowSerenityNow · 20/01/2025 09:46

Sexy Mother Pucker (plumping gloss).

I love this product! And it's name 😂

Glow Job was another!

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 20/01/2025 10:55

Welsford · 20/01/2025 00:54

On the beach advert . My six year old granddaughter wanted to know why the man was swearing. Awful advert which comes out before the 9pm deadline.

Really.......? 😂

Honestly, some of the OTT reactions on here are farcical! 😆

It's a good job that the ad makers have done though, because you're all talking about their products and services! And advertising them on Mumsnet! 😂

I bet the OP works for On The Beach! Nice one @MoodySky You have advertised your company really well!

RumJerrySailorRum · 20/01/2025 18:10

As a random aside
I work in an airport lounge.
On the beach passengers are a pain in the arse.
But they are nowhere near as bad as the entitled fuckers who use dragon/priority/lounge passes.
I'd rather have on the beach over them any day!!

SpeedyMcNobhead · 20/01/2025 18:24

callmebuffy · 16/01/2025 18:18

I reported it last year

This was the response:
Your case reference: xxx On The Beach Ltd
Thank you for contacting us with your complaint about an ad for On the Beach.
You may be interested to know that we recently received a number of complaints raising similar concerns to yours. Based on the nature of the concerns raised in these complaints, we decided to ask the independent ASA Councill_ to look at the issues raised. After careful consideration, however, they have decided that no further action should be taken this time. Please find more information below.
Your complaint
We received 135 complaints.

129 complainants, who believed the word "booking" was purposefully pronounced to sound like a swear word, objected that the ads were offensive.

45 complainants, some of whom reported seeing Ad A during programmes such as a Harry Potter film and Junior Bake Off and others who noted that the ad featured and targeted families, challenged whether it was scheduled appropriately as they believed the reference to an expletive was unsuitable for children. Eight complainants challenged whether the ads irresponsibly condoned or encouraged swearing amongst children.

Four complainants challenged whether the ads were irresponsible because the depiction of the family normalised and encouraged rude and greedy behaviour. One complainant found Ad A particularly distasteful in the context of the cost-of-living crisis.

Four complainants, who believed the daughter’s swimsuit was too revealing, challenged whether the ads were harmful and sexualised the young girl.

Our rules
Advertisements should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence, harm or be deemed irresponsible. We base our decisions on the content of the ad, when and where it appears, the audience and the type of product or service being advertised.

This article explains more about how we assess cases in this area: https://www.asa.org.uk/news/bad-taste-or-offensive.htmll_.

The ASA Council’s decision – no further investigation

Council regarded that the word “booking” was used at the beginning of the ads in a context that lent itself to substitution with an expletive and that some viewers may have understood the use of “booking” as word play on the word “fucking”. However, Council considered that the voice-over artist enunciated the word clearly and the accompanying on-screen text “BOOKING GENIUSES” and subsequent voiced phrase “when you book like a genius, you can holiday like a fool” further distinguished the word so as not to be confused with the word “fucking”. Given that the ads did not use any explicit language, Council concluded that, although some viewers might find the connotation and word play distasteful, it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

Council understood that Clearcast had not applied a scheduling restriction to Ad A, which they considered appropriate given its content. Council regarded that “booking” was sufficiently dissimilar to “fucking” as to be unlikely to be recognised as a reference to a swear word by children who were not already familiar with the word or associated phrases. Council considered that children who were old enough to interpret a degree of innuendo would be likely to understand that the humour was derived from the substitution rather than the use of an expletive and would be unlikely to be adversely affected by the content. While Council acknowledged that a small number of complainants had reported hearing their children or grandchildren repeat the phrase after seeing the ad, they considered that this was not tantamount to encouraging children to swear because the ad did not contain any expletives. Council therefore concluded that the ad had not been inappropriately scheduled and was unlikely to condone or encourage swearing amongst children.

Council considered the ads were likely to be understood as a light-hearted portrayal of a family holiday and representative of the excitement of holiday-time. Council noted the overall tone of the ads, facilitated by Paddy McGuinness’ voiceover, was exaggerated and over-the-top, and they considered it unlikely that viewers would see this as reflective of how people should behave on holiday. Council considered the voiced phrases “Fill ya boots, son” and “Slap on your best smug face because you, my friend, are in the lounge” were likely to be understood as a humorous way to highlight the perks of the promoted free lounge access and not as encouragement for holidaymakers to disregard their own manners while travelling. While Council understood wider concerns about the cost-of-living crisis, there was nothing in the ads that depicted over-consumption or promoted rude or wasteful behaviour. While Council appreciated that some viewers may consider the ads to be distasteful, they concluded that they were unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

Council noted that that the daughter wore a swimsuit which they considered was contextually appropriate for a child to wear on the beach. Council regarded that there was nothing sexual in the way the child was shown clothed or in their actions, and therefore Council concluded the ads were unlikely to be interpreted generally as encouraging or condoning the sexualisation of children, and unlikely to cause harm.

* * Action taken As your complaint raises similar concerns to those already considered by Council, we won’t take any further action this time. We will, however, keep a record of your complaint for reference in our future assessments. We will also take your complaint into account in our regular, proactive ‘intelligence gathering’ sweeps, where we analyse a range of information—including complaints made to us—to report on issues, even when they have not broken the advertising rules, that have caused concern.

We hope this helps to explain our decision, and thank you again for contacting us.

Yours sincerely,

Louise Kendaru
Complaints Executive

I have to pick up on the ASA response here….who in their right mind thinks that fucking and booking don’t sound alike and that booking can be purposefully pronounced to sound like fucking.

Original poster

MoodySky · 20/01/2025 22:11

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 20/01/2025 10:55

Really.......? 😂

Honestly, some of the OTT reactions on here are farcical! 😆

It's a good job that the ad makers have done though, because you're all talking about their products and services! And advertising them on Mumsnet! 😂

I bet the OP works for On The Beach! Nice one @MoodySky You have advertised your company really well!

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People are talking about it - but most of them are saying it would put them off using On The Beach. I certainly wouldn't book a holiday with them as it really seems like the type of trip I'd hate.

OP posts:

Iwishiwasapolarbear · 20/01/2025 22:13

It’s a shite advert with the stupid Christmas music and paddy mcguiness trying and failing to be funny. I cringe when it comes on the radio- I’d have thought by now they’d have a new advert. They’ve been using the Christmas song for bloody ages