page_title: Ryanair
section_title: Controversial advertising
hierarchical_section_title: Ryanair / Criticism / Publicity / Controversial advertising
caption_attribution_description: English: A Ryanair's airplane Boeing 737-800 at the Gerona Costa Brava Airport, Spain. "Bye bye Latehansa"
context_page_description: Ryanair DAC is an Irish budget airline founded in 1984, headquartered in Swords, Dublin, with its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family of airlines, and has Ryanair UK, Buzz, Malta Air and Lauda as sister airlines. In 2016, Ryanair was the largest European budget airline by scheduled passengers flown, and carried more international passengers than any other airline.
  Ryanair operates more than 300 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with a single 737-700 used as a charter aircraft, as a backup, and for pilot training. The airline has been characterised by its rapid expansion, a result of the deregulation of the aviation industry in Europe in 1997 and the success of its low-cost business model. Ryanair's route network serves 40 countries in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
  The company has been criticised over its employee conditions and heavy use of extra charges. It has also been noted for its intentional provocation of controversy as a means to generate free publicity and poor customer service.
context_section_description: Ryanair's advertising and the antics of Michael O'Leary, such as deliberately courting controversy to generate free publicity for the airline, have led to a number of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and occasionally court action being taken against the airline.
  An example of this was the live BBC News interview on 27 February 2009 when Michael O'Leary, observing that it was "a quiet news day", commented that Ryanair was considering charging passengers £1 to use the toilet on its flights. The story subsequently made headlines in the media for several days and drew attention to Ryanair's announcement that it was removing check-in desks from airports and replacing them with online check-in. Eight days later O'Leary eventually admitted that it was a publicity stunt saying "It is not likely to happen, but it makes for interesting and very cheap PR". The concept of Ryanair charging for even this most essential of customer services was foreseen by the spoof news website "The Mardale Times" some five months previously, in its article "Ryanair announce new 'Pay-Per-Poo' service".
  Ryanair often uses advertising to make direct comparisons and attack its competitors. One of its advertisements used a picture of the Manneken Pis, a famous Belgian statue of a urinating child, with the words: "Pissed off with Sabena's high fares? Low fares have arrived in Belgium." Sabena sued and the court ruled that the advertisements were misleading and offensive. Ryanair was ordered to discontinue the advertisements immediately or face fines. Ryanair was also obliged to publish an apology and publish the court decision on its website. Ryanair used the apologies for further advertising, primarily for further price comparisons.
  Another provocative ad campaign headlined "Expensive BAstards!" compared Ryanair with British Airways. As with Sabena, British Airways disagreed with the accompanying price comparisons and brought legal action against Ryanair. However, in this case, the High Court sided with Ryanair and threw BA's case out ordering the BA to make a payment towards Ryanair's court costs. The judge ruled "The complaint amounts to this: that Ryanair exaggerated in suggesting BA is five times more expensive because BA is only three times more expensive."
  In 2007, Ryanair used an advertisement for its new Belfast route which showed Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness (Northern Ireland deputy First Minister and a former senior commander of the IRA) standing alongside party president Gerry Adams with a speech bubble which said "Ryanair fares are so low even the British Army flew home". Ulster Unionists reacted angrily to the advertisement, while the Advertising Standards Authority said it did not believe the ad would cause widespread offence.
  An advertisement depicting a model dressed as a schoolgirl was accompanied by the words "Hottest back to school fares". Ryanair ran the advertisement in two Scottish and one UK-wide newspaper. After receiving 13 complaints, the advertisement was widely reported by national newspapers. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) instructed the airline to withdraw the advertisement in the United Kingdom, saying that it "appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour and was irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence". Ryanair said that it would "not be withdrawing this ad" and would "not provide the ASA with any of the undertakings they seek", on the basis that it found it absurd that "a picture of a fully clothed model is now claimed to cause 'serious or widespread offence', when many of the UK's leading daily newspapers regularly run pictures of topless or partially dressed females without causing any serious or widespread offence".
caption: A Ryanair Boeing 737-800 displaying "bye bye Latehansa" titles referring to German competitor Lufthansa in 2008
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