17 January 2024 , 10:30
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The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has cleared Paddy McGuinness over one of his recent adverts despite receiving 135 official complaints.
Paddy took to social media earlier this month to reassure fans he wasn't swearing in his TV advert for holiday experts On the Beach, following hundreds of viewers believing the Top Gear host was purposefully pronouncing the word "booking" to sound like an expletive.
In the advert, Paddy's voice can be heard explaining the perks of On the Beach packages and joking that the family shown in the ad are "booking geniuses" - but some TV viewers were certain they heard "f***ing geniuses" come out of the dad-of-three's mouth.
"Booking geniuses, not the other one, now book off and enjoy your Sunday," Paddy joked as he addressed the confusion on Instagram on 8th January, with On the Beach also making light of the drama - quipping: "How the book can't people tell the difference?"
Paddy McGuinness poked fun at the drama on Instagram earlier this month (Instagram)
The Top Gear host joking told critics of the advert to 'book off' (Instagram)Luckily for both Paddy and On the Beach, the ASA disagrees with the advert's critics and have cleared both the tour operator company and Paddy of any wrongdoing. The ASA had contacted bosses at On the Beach to declare that an investigation had taken place into the advert by the ASA Council, but has cleared both parties following deliberation.
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The ASA Council’s decision read: "The Council regarded that the word 'booking' was used at the beginning of the ads in a context that lent itself to substitution with an expletive and that some viewers may have understood the use of 'booking' as word play on the swear word.
"However, the Council considered that Paddy McGuinness enunciated the word clearly and the accompanying on-screen text 'BOOKING GENIUSES' and subsequent voiced phrase 'when you book like a genius, you can holiday like a fool' further distinguished the word so as not to be confused with the swear word. We’ve told the complainants that we won’t pursue the matter because, on the facts available to us, the ad rules have not been broken."
Zoe Harris, On the Beach's chief customer officer told the Mirror today: "It seems as though our advert isn’t going ‘booking’ anywhere! We know that Paddy’s wonderful northern accent can sometimes be misheard, but we can reassure everyone that Paddy and ourselves wouldn’t dream of mentioning a swear word on TV and radio.
"We’re happy the ASA have put and end to the matter and our advert can continue running. We know our advert is a bit like marmite, especially with our choice of music, but it’s all about highlighting our free perks and enjoying the most wonderful time of year, which of course, is going on holiday."