Jetstar ad ruled misleading

After a rough ride with customers since its New Zealand launch, Jetstar has now struck turbulence over an advertisement which claimed one million New Zealanders had made it their airline of choice.

Jetstar said the ad, which appeared in April, was published to celebrate the "one millionth passenger to have travelled domestically within New Zealand" since it launched the operation in June 2009.

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the ad was likely to "mislead or deceive" consumers as it implied one million individual New Zealanders had purchased tickets.

A complaint to the ASA pointed out this figure was highly unlikely, as it would mean more than one in five New Zealanders had travelled on Jetstar in that time.

Following the complaint, Jetstar confirmed the figure in fact referred to the number of passenger segments purchased for New Zealand domestic services, not the number of individual travellers.

It also said it did not believe the ad was misleading or untruthful and in breach of the ASA's code of ethics.

Jetstar said it had not received any complaints from customers in relation to the ad.

- NZPA