Two travel companies have been pulled up by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for running misleading advertising campaigns.
A national press advert for travelbag.co.uk stated “Emirates Business Class Sale 2 for 1Cape Town £895 Auckland £1,539”, but in the small print it said prices were per person, based on two sharing.
The ASA ruled that despite the advert stating the terms of the deal, the two-for-one claim meant readers were likely to think they could get two tickets for the prices listed.
“Because that was not the case, and the prices listed below the ‘two for 1’ claim were for one, not two, we concluded the advert was likely to mislead,” the ASA said.
The ASA has also ruled in favour of the Post Office and a member of the public who complained about a Thomas Cook Retail advert that claimed: “We beat the Post Office exchange rates”.
The ASA compared Thomas Cook exchange rates with those of the Post Office. It found that on the day the advert first appeared, and the following day, 301 Post Office branches offered better exchange rates for US dollars. The Post Office had just started to offer differential pricing, rather than across the board pricing, in its branches before the ad first appeared
Thomas Cook Retail and travelbag.co.uk have been told the adverts cannot be run in their current form again.