Ryanair's 'Comical Ali' campaign not fair, airline claims

Budget airline Ryanair has come under fire for featuring the former Iraqi information minister, Mohammed Saeed Sahaf in the role of a spokesman for Ryanair's main rival, easyJet.

Former Iraqi information minister Mohammed Saeed al Sahaf in Baghdad in February

In the new advertising campaign, Sahaf, dubbed 'Comical Ali' in the media because of his propensity to hold overly-optimistic press conferences, is shown claiming easyJet has the lowest airfares in Britain.

An easyJet spokesman, having been presented with a clear opportunity for a dig at their major rival, described the ad as insensitive and said that great care had to be taken if using "any reference to the war".

"At easyJet we took a deliberate strategy not to mention the war in any shape or form on the basis that there had been enough pain and misery caused," the spokesperson is quoted as saying.

Ryanair has dismissed the criticism as groundless and said their rival was merely running scared because their profits have fallen in recent months while Ryanair's profits and passengers numbers continue to climb.

Ryanair's response to easyjet's criticism was predictably robust. "Let me get my hankies out. They're just whingeing," a spokesman for Ryanair told ireland.comthis afternoon. "Our job is to bring to the attention of the public that easyJet is not a low-fares airline despite their claims," he said, saying that the ad successfully achieved that goal.

Ryanair appears to relish aggressive advertising campaigns and has courted controversy and been taken to court on a number of occasions by rivals who have felt the company's marketing campaigns were illegal.

An Irish campaign depicted the Pope claiming that the fourth secret of Fatima was Ryanair's low fares. Despite the subsequent outrage, CEO Mr Michael O'Leary, who oversees many of the campaigns himself, remained unmoved and unrepentant.

The Vatican issued a press release accusing the airline of blaspheming the Pope and to Mr O'Leary's unconcealed joy, the release attracted the attention of newspapers as far away as India, generating mountains of free publicity. "I thought I died and went to heaven," Mr O'Leary has been quoted as saying.

Ryanair's rivals in Belgium, Sabena, took the Dublin-based carrier to courts three years ago claiming a campaign breached legislation regulating comparative advertising in the country.

Eventually, Ryanair won the lawsuit.

Ryanair has been reprimanded by the British Advertising Standards Authority (BASA), for advertising campaigns that could best be described as ambivalent. It has also found itself in hot water with the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) on several occasions.