Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Lies, Damn Lies and Advertising
Only a fool believes what they read on an advert, but it still beggars belief when a company hides behind half-truths. Take Ryanair for example, who have just been chastised by the ASA for their misleading advert. Ryanair claimed that "its flight from London to Brussels is faster and cheaper than making the journey by Eurostar".
Sounds plain enough? Well, it didn't take into account that if you're in central London, you'll need to travel 25 miles to Stansted airport first at your own cost. And once you "arrive" in Brussels, thanks to Ryanair, you'll actually find that you are still 28 miles away!
To add insult to injury, Ryanair defended its position, saying that time and costs involved in getting to an airport or railway station were "irrelevant" as they applied to both modes of transport. How is this true? If I saw an advert that claimed to take me to Brussels, and I wanted to go to Brussels, I would assume it would take me to the centre, not 28 miles away! They are not comparing like with like.
BTW Eurostar takes you directly to and from the centre of the respective cities.
Sounds plain enough? Well, it didn't take into account that if you're in central London, you'll need to travel 25 miles to Stansted airport first at your own cost. And once you "arrive" in Brussels, thanks to Ryanair, you'll actually find that you are still 28 miles away!
To add insult to injury, Ryanair defended its position, saying that time and costs involved in getting to an airport or railway station were "irrelevant" as they applied to both modes of transport. How is this true? If I saw an advert that claimed to take me to Brussels, and I wanted to go to Brussels, I would assume it would take me to the centre, not 28 miles away! They are not comparing like with like.
BTW Eurostar takes you directly to and from the centre of the respective cities.
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I'm with Ryanair on this one. Since Stansted is within Greater London, it counts as being in the capital. The main reason behind their claim being valid is because the journey time by ryanair/eurostar is directly comparable, both being pretty much definites, whereas the passengers start location in relation to eurostar station/stansted airport are massive variables. For example, somebody who lived within 5 miles of stansted would have to make the journey to central london. Ryanair is right, journeys to start/end points of their/eurostars service is completely irrelevant. I hope they win.
# posted by 
: 2:14 PM, August 22, 2007
: 2:14 PM, August 22, 2007
You're right when you say "the passengers start location in relation to eurostar station/stansted airport are massive variables". So massive in fact, they they render Ryanairs claim meaningless, as the advert is probably only correct in certain cases, not all of them.
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