Geordies offended by Directski ad
Wednesday November 17, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The online travel agent is forced to apologise after an advertisement in the London press apparently pokes fun at people from Newcastle.

The advertisement implied that Goeordies are too poor to go on a ski or snowboard holiday.

The caption on a poster of a skier next to a St Bernard dog with the mountains as a backdrop says simply "I have a dream to make skiing affordable for all...even Geordies."

The national press picked up on it and rounded up a series of quotes from people from Newcastle who were apparently insulted at the implication that they were too impoverished to afford to go skiing or snowboarding.

Directski has now apoligised for any offence that may have been taken.

"It would appear that our advertisement in this week's London press has caused offence to a few people in the North East of England. This was certainly not our intention and we apologise to anyone who took offence to what we thought was quite a humorous ad,"  says Neal Collins, the Sales & Marketing Director.

Innocuous or insulting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The statement we have been sent for Direct ski continues;

"We simply wanted to highlight the fact that residents in the North East of the country are 3 times less likely to hit the slopes compared to those living in the London area. Given that there are plenty of flights from the North of England into all the major ski destinations, we maybe wrongly assumed that there was a connection between the fact that the average income in the North East is somewhat lower than the average London salary."

One PlanetSKI reader from Newcastle we have shown the advertisement to said that it didn't really bother her, but just thought it was a stupid advert.

"If the company wants to get Geordies to go skiing then why do not they advertise in the Newcastle and the north-east rather than put an anti-Geordie advert in newspapers in the south East?" she points out.

The posters though are still up across London. The picture below was taken by PlanetSKI on November 16th.

Amusing or insulting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have a view on whether it is in bad taste do let us know in the comment box below.

For the spirit of the mountains

Is it insulting or a fuss about nothing?

PlanetSKI reserves the right to edit any comments. In most cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below.

Your name:


Your email address:


Your location (town or country):


Your comments:

Rather silly. Aimed at getting PR inches?
Xavier Adam, UK


I can assure you that this is not fuss about nothing.

I am a Geordie living in London and was appalled at the ad.

Tell me... if 'Geordies' was changed to 'Africans' or 'Indians' would that be OK? Doubt it.

Also, that's not a humorous ad, these people need to learn comedy.
Miss H, South Shields

Bookmark this page

Related Articles

Swiss ski in Austria (Wednesday May 16, 2012)
Is it possible to insure against the weather? (Monday May 14, 2012)
Do all-inclusive holidays harm the local economy? (Friday May 11, 2012)
Which ski resort has most Facebook friends? (Friday May 11, 2012)
Ski editor dies (Sunday May 6, 2012)
Vail Resorts puts brave face on tough season (Friday May 4, 2012)