A Center Parcs television advert that encouraged parents to take their children on “term-time breaks” has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA said that the advert was “irresponsible” to encourage parents to take their children out of the classroom during term time to enjoy a holiday, with the offer being promoted excluding school holidays in the small print.
Center Parcs claimed that:
It was the responsibility of parents to exercise judgement regarding their children and there was nothing in the ad that encouraged parents to take their children out of school during term times.
However, in their conclusions, the ASA said:
We considered the emphasis of the ad was on a family break and that the overall impression was that families could take advantage of the advertised offer, which was not available at weekends or during school holidays. We also noted the final on-screen text stated “Your family. Your time”, which we considered was likely to be an encouragement for parents to take up the offer. Because the ad had focused on a family break to promote an offer which was available only during term-time, we concluded it irresponsibly encouraged parents to take their children out of school.
