Airline ad offensive to unionists - claim
BUDGET airline Ryanair has angered the DUP by running an advertisement which signposts the destination of Belfast under an Irish Tricolour.
MP Gregory Campbell has said the advert, on the company's website, was one step too far, even for a business with a reputation for colourful and controversial marketing.
He accused the firm of being offensive to customers from within the unionist community.
He added: "They have gone from budget to barmy in this instance."
Ryanair's response, however, was typically combative – disregarding Mr Campbell's point about Northern Ireland's status as a region of the United Kingdom.
A spokesman said: "We thank Mr Campbell for drawing attention to www.ryanair.com's 'barmy' homepage and we strongly urge the people of Northern Ireland to see it for themselves and pick up an equally 'barmy' 5 fare while they're at it."
Unamused, Mr Campbell explained his opinion on the matter.
He said: "Ryanair has a well-documented history of quirky and controversial advertisement campaigns but on this occasion they have overstepped the mark.
"Displaying the name of Northern Ireland's capital city with the flag of a foreign country over it is quite simply a denial of political reality.
"Belfast is British as is the rest of Northern Ireland."
He added: "Ryanair, which has many customers from within the unionist community, should take account of that when formulating advertising campaigns such as this.
"The company thrives on controversial advertising but they ought to know when their strategy is causing offence. On this occasion it most definitely has.
"In the Republic people are at perfect liberty to fly the tricolour and use it for advertising purposes. In Northern Ireland our flag is the Union Flag and that should be reflected by Ryanair in future.
"I hope that Michael O'Leary, the chief executive of the company, will apologise to his many British customers from Northern Ireland for this clumsy and unnecessary oversight."
The budget airline has taken a generally unapologetic line in relation to its controversial advertising techniques which have been criticised over recent years.
In 2005 an advertisement referring to the London bombings – eight days after the attacks – was deemed not to have caused widespread offence by the Advertising Standards Authority.
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