The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has partially upheld two complaints from travel agents over a television advert featuring X-Factor rejects Jedward and comedian Omid Djalili.
Jedward
Twins John and Edward appeared on the talent show in 2009 and despite not winning it have remained in the public eye, recently appearing in the Travelsupermarket.com television advert.
Polo Travel and PR World travel both complained to the ASA that the advert misleads people into believing they can save substantial amounts of money by booking through the comparison website rather than through a travel agent.
The advert depicts the boys, nicknamed Jedward on the ITV show, on holiday, sitting on sun loungers by the pool, being quizzed by Omid Djalili about the price they have paid for the holiday. One twin reveals that he found his holidays £200 cheaper than the other one.
The ASA ruling revealed that the advert implied that the consumer could typically save £200 by booking through Travelsupermarket.com, and “we had not seen robust evidence to substantiate that claim”, and deemed it was misleading. The internet company compared brochure prices with prices on its site to come up with the claim.
The ASA, however rejected the second complaint that Travelsupermarket.com suggested either directly or indirectly, that they would always be cheaper than booking directly through a travel agent, claiming there was no evidence to substantiate this.
It was also suggested that the advert portrayed travel agents as consistently more expensive than online agents; however Travelsupermarket.com compares the prices of holidays from leading travel agents such as Thomson and First Choice.
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