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.
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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