On the Beach escapes sanction over airport lounge ‘doughnut’ advert

The advertising watchdog has rejected a complaint against On the Beach’s free airport lounge access TV advert for showing a boy taking a chocolate ring doughnut from a buffet.

The Advertising Standards Authority dismissed a compliant which challenged whether the advert seen before the 9pm watershed on January 7 was for an “identifiable less healthy food product”. 

The advert promoted the OTA’s offer of free airport lounge access for customers who booked a five-star holiday package deal, emphasising the family were “booking geniuses” for taking advantage of it.

The majority of the advert showed the family in an unidentified airport and airport lounge, with a shorter series of shots of them enjoying their holiday destination at the end. 

“We considered the benefit of complimentary food was an appealing part of the offering, and noted it was the benefit that was most obviously depicted in the ad, illustrated by the boy taking a doughnut and grapes from a buffet and the immediately preceding voice-over comment, ‘Fill your boots, son’,” the authority said.

“However, we considered consumers were likely to interpret this - and the other food and drink shown - as a generic representation of the benefits that may be available in lounges included in the offer, as opposed to advertising of the food and drink products shown.” 
 
Rejecting the complaint, the ASA noted: “We considered that consumers who viewed the ad could not reasonably be expected to identify that the ad was for the doughnut.

“Rather, they would identify the ad as being for the perk of free airport lounge access if they purchased a five-star holiday from On the Beach.

“We therefore concluded that the ad was not for an identifiable less healthy product.”

It therefore did not breach the advertising code.

On The Beach pointed out that the doughnut was shown only briefly in the advert - being visible for less than one second - and formed part of a wider buffet setting typical of an airport lounge.

“There was no particular focus or narrative cue to draw the viewers’ attention to the doughnut. It was purely an illustrative example of food that may be available in an airport lounge,” the company told the ASA.

“The portrayal of a child choosing a doughnut from a buffet in an airport lounge setting was incidental to the main purpose of the ad and was unlikely to be perceived by consumers as promoting the purchase and consumption of a doughnut.” 
 

On the Beach confirmed that the advert was not filmed in an airport where the offer would be available, and the food used was a prop and was not available to eat at the lounge used for filming.