Ad description
A post on Butlin’s’ Facebook page, seen on 12 October 2022, stated “Family trips to the theatre, the pool, to the panto… they all add up! Especially when we’re all feeling the squeeze at the moment. Luckily, we know just the place where they’re all included! We’ve even done the maths for you… take a look for yourself! Discover more at [weblink to the Butlin’s Showtime Breaks webpage] DID YOU KNOW? Staying at home for 4 days of fun could cost at least 4 times as much money* as a family break at Butlin’s”. A logo on the top right-hand corner stated “Butlin’s SHOWTIME”. Smaller text beneath the logo stated “MIDWEEK BREAKS”.
Two columns were headlined “STAYING HOME VS FAMILY BREAK AT BUTLIN’S” The STAYING HOME column listed various activities and their price: “Average price of West End theatre tickets (lower end) £100.47 Average price of a family pass for swimming pool/indoor water park £23.42 Average price of soft play centre admission £35.53 Average price of a fairground visit £114.00 Average price of pantomime tickets £74.83 TOTAL £348.25 The cost of the above activities based on a family of 4”. The FAMILY BREAK AT BUTLIN’S column listed “Live world-class entertainment across 4 indoor venues Unlimited swimming in Splash Waterworld Unlimited access to the soft play area Unlimited rides in the fairground Unlimited laughs at the family pantomime”, all with INCLUDED in place of a price. The column continued “TOTAL FROM £49 The cost for a Showtime Midweek break based on a family of 4, which includes all the above activities plus 4 nights’ accommodation”. Text below the table stated “… £426.10 is the average price a family of 4 spends on a 3-4 night UK break”.
The asterisk linked to small print at the bottom of the ad which stated “Based on average UK costs for individual activities for a family of 4 in the UK” Further small print stated “Research taken from One Poll survey of 1,700 respondents, September 2022”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood Butlins 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, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Response
Butlins Skyline Ltd t/a Butlin’s explained that Showtime breaks were a specific, term-time only break type. They believed the ad made it clear that the £49 price related to midweek term-time breaks. They pointed out that the ad made no reference to school holidays and that “midweek” appeared in the logo and the main body of the ad, rather than being hidden in the terms and conditions. They said that the ad contained a URL linking to the dedicated Showtime landing page of their website, which stated that breaks ran throughout the year during term time and where a number of breaks were listed at £49.
They believed that the comparison with “staying home” prices was fair because neither set of prices related to school holidays. They 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.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that the highlighted activities such as the theatre, the pool and pantomime would be seen as appealing to families in general, including school-aged children as well as pre-schoolers. The ad referred to a family of four with no mention of the children’s ages. We considered that consumers would therefore understand from the ad that they could book a family break for school-aged children at £49.
We understood that “Showtime breaks” was the terminology used by Butlin’s to describe their term-time only breaks; however, we considered that consumers were unlikely to have been familiar with that terminology. Whilst the URL in the ad linked to a page of the website that explained that terminology, the information was not available in the ad itself.
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.
We therefore concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.17 and 3.22 (Prices).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Butlins Skyline Ltd t/a 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.
