Butlin’s has been banned from advertising £49 breaks which could mislead families into thinking they were available during school holidays.
The advertising watchdog stepped in after receiving a complaint about a Butlin’s Facebook promotion in October comparing the costs of staying at home for four days with a Butlin’s Showtime break.
They advert claimed that “staying at home for four days of fun could cost at least four times as much money”.
The complainant said they understood Butlin’s charged “considerably more” than £49 for a family of four during school holidays when most families would be able to access a four-day break and challenged whether the advert was misleading.
Butlin’s argued that Showtime breaks were a specific, term time-only option.
The domestic resort operator believed the advert made it clear that the £49 price related to midweek term-time breaks.
Butlin’s told the Advertising Standards Authority that the comparison with “staying home” prices was fair because neither set of prices related to school holidays.
The company pointed out that there was a significant market for pre-school aged children who enjoyed going to Butlin’s throughout the year.
Butlin’s provided data which showed that of all the 72 break periods in 2023 – a large proportion of which were Showtime breaks – nine were priced at £49 or less.
But the ASA upheld the complaint and told Butlin’s that the advert must not appear again in same form.
“We told Butlin’s to make clear in future advertising for Showtime Breaks that ‘from’ prices referred to midweek, term- time breaks only and therefore excluded school holidays,” the authority ruled after concluding that the advert “was likely to mislead”.
The ASA said: “While we acknowledged that the ad referred to a ‘midweek’ break, we considered its position in small font in the logo and at the foot of the comparison table meant that it could have been easily overlooked by consumers.
“In any event, the ad made no reference to the breaks being available only in term-time, and ‘midweek’ was a term that simply referred to the days of the week that a break would fall on, rather than relating to any particular time of the year.
“We also considered that consumers would understand from repeated references to ‘staying at home vs family break at Butlin’s’ and the fact that the ad was for a four-day break, that the comparison was intended to illustrate how much staying at home and entertaining children with local activities during the school holidays would be, compared to staying at Butlin’s where activities were included.
“We therefore expected that any evidence substantiating the price claim would include breaks taking place during school holidays.
“However, we noted that the pricing data showed only midweek, term-time breaks were available at £49 or less and that no midweek breaks at Butlin’s were available for the price of £49 during the school holidays.”