ASA backs Ryanair ire over rival’s ‘lowest fares’ claim
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled in favour of Ryanair after it complained about rival airline Jet2.com’s “misleading” advertising.
The Irish airline has itself frequently been in hot water with the watchdog over its controversial ad strategy.
The watchdog has upheld complaints about two Jet2.com national press ads, which claim the airline offers the “North’s lowest fares”. Ryanair challenged the claim, believing its fares from northern airports were lower.
Jet2 argued that it ran weekly price analyses to substantiate claims and it added that Ryanair did not fly to 13 of the 24 destinations featured in the ad so the routes were not comparable and, by default, its flights were cheaper. It also said that Ryanair was cheaper on seven flights but that these flights left from East Midlands and Liverpool airports, which Jet2 does not consider as based in the North.
- The ASA has ruled that Jet2’s ads were misleading, as the airline could not substantiate that its fares from northern airports were always lower than other airlines flying from the other northern airports.
The ASA has also upheld a complaint by lobby group Sustain about a poster and e-mail campaign for St Pancras Station’s “farmers’ market”. Sustain claimed the campaign, from London & Continental Stations & Property (LCSP), was misleading as the market did “not meet the criteria for the use of the term ‘farmers’ market’.”
The ASA said the ads are misleading as the market at St Pancras station was not yet open and no operator yet found for it, so there could be no exact details about the products to be sold there.
