Holiday Extras has escaped censure from the Advertising Standards Authority after a single complaint that an online advert was racist.
The offending advert was on kontraband.com, its own holidayextras.co.uk website and featured the comedian Paul Kaye running his own airport car parking service.
The advert showed a home made sign reading ‘ca parkin’ with subtitles stating ‘luxurious airport parking service’ with a caravan in the background and a field full of cars.
It then depicts Kaye while using a thick Irish accent causing havoc as the car park owner while he drinks beer, chases children, punches staff, kicks cars and even lets one catch fire.
A blue screen then showed further text that stated “Park your worries with your car.” before the Holiday Extras logo appears with text saying: “Airport parking and hotels, done right”.
The complainant said the advert was racist to both Irish and Romany travellers but Holiday Extras defended it by stating it was meant to be light-hearted and contrasted the customer service, trust and security Holiday Extra offered as opposed to other car-parking companies.
The company added it was sorry any distress had been and it did not mean to cause any offence. It added the advert has been viewed by more than 70,000 people.
The ASA adjudication said the advert was intended to portray a humorous contrast and was not representative of behaviour typical to Irish or Romany communities.
It said while some people may view the advert in poor taste it concluded it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence. It added it wasn’t in breach of any of its regulations.