Just thirteen complaints from newspaper readers who found a Ryanair ad offensive was enough for Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority to demand the budget airline cease using the ad.
The ad features an adult dressed as a schoolgirl with the headline Hottest Back To School Fares. Offensive? C’mon, a trip to the mall and your likely to see girls dressed more “offensively:”
Despite only thirteen complaints, the ASA found the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
The ASA considered the model’s clothing, which included long white socks and a tie, together with the setting of the ad in a classroom strongly suggested she was a schoolgirl. We considered that her appearance and pose, in conjunction with the heading “HOTTEST,” appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour and was irresponsible…
But Ryanair is standing firm. Their head of communications Peter Sherrard said it would not stop running the advert:
“This isn’t advertising regulation, it is simply censorship. This bunch of unelected self-appointed dimwits are clearly incapable of fairly and impartially ruling on advertising.”
In their response to the ASA, Ryanair pointed out that the ad ran in three national daily newspapers with a combined circulation of 3.5 million. In that context, 13 complaints was an insignificant number and not representative of broader community views.
They also said the ad had no sexual connotations and was representative of the type of clothing that was fashionable among young women in the UK.
