Ryanair has been told to remove "irresponsible" adverts depicting misleading claims about coronavirus vaccinations.

The Advertising Standards Authority said it got 2,370 complaints - the third highest ever received for an advert. They encouraged people to book holidays with Ryanair after having vaccinations, suggesting consumers could "Jab & Go". The airline has stopped the adverts, but said it disagreed with the rulings.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) looked into three issues after getting the complaints about adverts in late December and early January. Two of the issues were upheld, but a third, that Ryanair trivialised lockdown restrictions, was not. A number of complainants felt that the Jab & Go adverts implied that most of the UK population would be successfully vaccinated against Covid-19 by the spring or summer this year and would be able to go on holiday. On this point, the ASA concluded that the adverts were misleading.

The watchdog said that, given the complexity and fast-changing situation, it was "important that advertisers were cautious when linking developments in the UK's response to the pandemic to specific timeframes around which life might return to some level of normality, particularly when linking it to how confident consumers could be when making purchasing decisions".

Source: BBC Business