The Advertising Standards Authority and Booking.com

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Booking.com

The advertising standards authority is Great Britain's sole commercial ad regulator and is also a place where consumers can complain about commercial ads if they are uncomfortable with the commercial being aired or displayed on (Web 2.0) enabled-devices.

The ASA has the right to prosecute or (at the least) take down the commercial from the public view.

An example of their work is when the Booking.com (from Amsterdam-based Booking Holdings) commercial was removed from national view in TV/AV format.

Here is the link to the commercial, from 7 years ago (2013)-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PcWHQd32Bo

The commercial contains language (or suggestions to language) that viewers (especially parents) may find offensive and/or inappropriate for children to consume. The use of "Booking Yeah" over and over is clearly a reference to the vulgar term "F*cking Yeah" and this offended parents.

The audience for this product is clearly parents looking to travel abroad but the tactic used (adult humor references) didn't work the way originally intended by Booking Holdings. The backlash caused parents to complain to the ASA in the heart of Mid City, London - they where forced to remove it from national, public view as well as other advertising associations worldwide, including;

• Greece
• USA
• France
• China
• South Korea
• Ireland
• Canada
• Columbia

Considering that the travel firm does business in over 70 territories, this doesn't seem that bad - however it has left a scar on the company and has made it loose lots of customers as well as some of its reputation.

In addition, it has also caused the company to gain a warning from the ASA.