This time, the spelling error in the title is deliberate. A pun. But few are laughing at British Airways’ latest ad, which critics argue glamorizes gambling.
The British Airways Holidays ad features a happy couple returning to their hotel room. On their way back from the pool, they decided to make a detour to to the casino. There, they turned their loose change in $493.
A group of British Parliament Members was not amused in the least, sending a scathing note to BA CEO Alex Cruz.
Having spent many hours in recent months listening to harrowing stories of futures that have been ruined, families that have been destroyed and lives that have been lost as a direct result of gambling, we were appalled to see such a well-respected company glamorising it.
BA responded by quickly pulling the ad.
CONCLUSION
The ad has been totally pulled and I can only find traces of it online. If you have a copy of it, please share it in the comments section below.
Personally, I view gambling as pernicious. That doesn’t mean I want to ban it, but I’ve also witnessed lives lost to gambling. We should not glorify it. While many can carefully manage their gambling and just have fun, it’s a vice I personally don’t want to ever tempt myself with.
Do you think an airline should glamorize gambling?
It must be exhausting being a modern liberal, spending all day finding new things to be outraged and offended at.
I thought opposition to gambling was a more conservative position…
Spending time looking for something to be offended about is definitely a modern liberal thing.
I dunno, I’m a modern liberal and think this is pretty silly. Lots of things are addictive and ruin lives, why is gambling special? Further, is BA gonna end their flights to Las Vegas? Or to any other destination where gambling is the key draw? I’m pissed that BA acquiesced to some buzzkill MPs
Yeah, it is much easier to go through life being a sexist, racist, xenophobic homophobe.
Replace gambling with alcohol and the hypocrisy becomes a bit more apparent.
Replace gambling with war, replace gambling with colonization, replace gambling with gun ownership, bla bla bla, yada yada yada. Same old stories….
Remarkably dumb of BA to have failed to foresee the outcry. The clueless morons approving such ads should be shown the door.
The clueless morons are the ones who are offended by an ad. Gambling is legal in many places, just like smoking weed, drinking alcohol, hunting with big scary rifles, and euthanasia.
No one is being forced gamble in these places, drink, hunt, or attend church, just like they are not being forced to fly BA if they are so outraged by it. You don’t agree with some companies ad? Speak with your wallet because whining on-line isn’t going to get BA to actually stop flying to Vegas, or Ireland, or Finland, or Great Britain or Australia or China or Macau or Singapore or Italy or Canada or India…
I think the reaction to this ad has been a little excessive, but this is more typical in the U.K. where people tend to be more sensitive about the social effects of broadcast content (and indeed that content is more strictly regulated). To be honest it’s not a bad thing to encourage socially responsible broadcasting (something arguably the U.S. could use more of).
It was unwise of BA to Air this – they could easily have focused on Vegas without making gambling (and indeed a positive storyline about gambling) the central theme.