2,345 Booking Idiots
February 21, 2015 2:08 AM   Subscribe

After receiving over 2,300 complaints from UK television viewers regarding Booking.com's "Booking dot Yeah!" ad campaign, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority investigated and ruled that it was not, in fact, profane.

The actual complaints are not available, but as an example, this page has a comments section where viewers express their outrage at the "repulsive, innuendo-ridden" adverts.

Booking.com is an Amsterdam travel site, that in 2013, wanted to increase its visibility. They began the "Booking dot Yeah!" campaign, where the word "booking" serves as a minced oath for the f-word (another minced oath).

Ad agency Wieden+Kennedy’s Amsterdam location created the campaign, with the video spots directed by the ("infamous") film collective, Tracktor (founded in Sweden, now based in L.A.). Traktor's web site is Flash-based, but anyone can view the welcome page, which has a crazy montage video of mostly weird, mostly foreign commercials.

They hired John DiMaggio to do the voice-over for the first six ads in his best Bender-the-Robot/Jake-the-Dog voice.

Great ads, and a great ruling. Enjoy!

Jan 2013
Booking dot Yeah!

Jan 2014
Booking Epic

Feb 2014
Get a Room
Team Building

April 2014
Brianless
Golf
posted by LEGO Damashii (54 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Traktor's web site is Flash-based, but anyone can view the welcome page

Which requires QuickTime, so a lot of people can view the rest of the site but not the video on the welcome page (as they say, "we make films, not websites"). But for those who don't know Traktor's stuff, "Where's Your Head At" and "Baby's Got A Temper" are among their more famous music videos. But they mostly do ads, afaik, with a few in a more portable format here and probably all over YouTube.
posted by effbot at 2:37 AM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Seems like the right call to me. Much like the FC:UK campaign last century, you have to know the word to recognise it.
posted by YAMWAK at 2:40 AM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Burger King got away with 'King Tasty for a while.
posted by colie at 2:53 AM on February 21, 2015 [4 favorites]


I could have done with not calling people who object to "oh I'm so clever for not technically using the word" cursing on TV ads idiots, tho.
posted by sukeban at 3:18 AM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


The people referred to as idiots don't just object, they made an official complaint because they wanted the ad to be banned. Most people who aren't idiots don't have the time or energy to complain about real problems that really affect them, let alone some inferred profanity that makes fuck all difference to their lives.
posted by howfar at 3:51 AM on February 21, 2015 [12 favorites]


The people referred to as idiots don't just object, they made an official complaint because they wanted the ad to be banned.

And that's terrible.
posted by sukeban at 3:54 AM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Pepsi Booking Blue.
posted by HuronBob at 4:07 AM on February 21, 2015 [4 favorites]


Burger King got away with 'King Tasty for a while.

That's pretty vague compared to their classic "It takes two hands to handle a whopper". Which...well...c'mon.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:36 AM on February 21, 2015 [4 favorites]


Any day people who believe their poor little snowflake selves being offended means book-all to anybody get righteously booked themselves is a good day. Go book yourselves and change the booking channel next time, sensitive souls!
posted by umberto at 4:39 AM on February 21, 2015 [11 favorites]


We have to include Verizon's recent campaign accusing rivals' policy of giving customers slower upload speeds as offering 'half fast Internet'
posted by persona at 4:41 AM on February 21, 2015 [11 favorites]


Seriously though. Is there enough extra time in life to waste pursuing actions based on irrational sensitivity to non-issues? Yes, I grant modern society leads to narcissism and all that, but there is a certain point when you have to agree a certain level of consensual reality and just realize sometimes shit happens.
posted by Samizdata at 4:52 AM on February 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


umberto: "Any day people who believe their poor little snowflake selves being offended means book-all to anybody get righteously booked themselves is a good day. Go book yourselves and change the booking channel next time, sensitive souls!"

Look here, bookface, why the book should YOU get to booking choose whatever I have to booking watch. It's not booking like I don't any booking rights. Unbookingbelievabe. Booking bookers.
posted by Samizdata at 4:54 AM on February 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


Annnnnnnnnnnd, scene...
posted by Samizdata at 4:55 AM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Meanwhile, in Canada, the CBC has ads constantly running for Eugene Levy's Schitts Creek
posted by saucysault at 4:58 AM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Meanwhile, in Canada, the CBC has ads constantly running for Eugene Levy's Schitts Creek

Angus Reid. (2010). Canadians Swear More Often Than Americans and British.

Fucking eh!
posted by srboisvert at 5:25 AM on February 21, 2015 [4 favorites]


Seems like the right call to me. Much like the FC:UK campaign last century, you have to know the word to recognise it.

I'm sure I wasn't the only person tempted to walk up to everyone I saw wearing an FC:UK shirt and say "You spelled 'fuck' wrong."
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:32 AM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Love, love, LOVE the Brianless ad. Slamming down those oysters and riding the horse on the beach and then going nuts dancing. Love this ad.
posted by kinetic at 5:33 AM on February 21, 2015


How many UK viewers complained about the word "frak" on the Battlestar Galactica reboot?

Those frakkers complaining about the Booking.com ads can go frak themselves, for frak's sake.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:33 AM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


> Go book yourselves and change the booking channel next time, sensitive souls!

I have few qualms about the word "fuck" and in general I wouldn't fucking mind if Americans (and Brits, I guess) weren't so fucking censorious about that shit, but I still think it's unreasonable to tell people that they should change their TV viewing habits to anticipate the possibility that a commercial that upsets them gets mixed among the shows they wanted to watch.
posted by ardgedee at 5:35 AM on February 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


Really? 2000 complaints is enough to justify a FPP about an ad campaign?
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:51 AM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


The young people today, they think comedy is dirty words. It's not -- it's words that *sound* dirty, like "mukluk."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:13 AM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


If you are a film collective making ads, you are not “infamous”; you are “tools”.
posted by scruss at 6:23 AM on February 21, 2015 [7 favorites]


This is my local pho place...
posted by Huck500 at 6:25 AM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Sofa King
posted by Splunge at 6:40 AM on February 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


See also: I shipped my pants.
posted by lydhre at 6:55 AM on February 21, 2015 [5 favorites]


The young people today, they think comedy is dirty words. It's not -- it's words that *sound* dirty, like "mukluk."

Really, most winter clothing names work: mukluk, mitten, muff.
posted by mochapickle at 7:03 AM on February 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


"Galosh."
posted by Wolfdog at 7:07 AM on February 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


I've seen these commercials dozens of times, and this is the first I've heard that "booking" is a stand-in for "fucking". Fucking dot yeah? Is that a common saying in the UK? Because it doesn't make any sense to my American ears.
posted by dirigibleman at 7:15 AM on February 21, 2015 [5 favorites]


I've seen these commercials dozens of times, and this is the first I've heard that "booking" is a stand-in for "fucking".

Uh...

“You got it right. You got it booking right. Because it doesn’t get any better than this. It doesn’t get any booking better than this. Look at the view, look at the booking view. This is exactly what you booking needed. Bask in the booking glory at over half a million properties. Planet earth’s number one accommodation site. Booking dot com, booking dot yeah.”
posted by Sys Rq at 7:40 AM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


I have FIOS so I don't have half-fast internet. Without it I would apparently do a lot of things half-fast.
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:50 AM on February 21, 2015


Because it doesn't make any sense to my American ears.

In lots of British accents "fucking" and "booking" are pretty close rhymes. I think that's probably true of some US accents, too, actually. It seems to my ears like some Southern US accents would let you get away with that rhyme too.
posted by howfar at 8:28 AM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


but I still think it's unreasonable to tell people that they should change their TV viewing habits to anticipate the possibility that a commercial that upsets them gets mixed among the shows they wanted to watch.

Really? You have a remote control. Change the booking channel. Are you really that booking lazy that you can't move your thumb for one second?
posted by umberto at 9:09 AM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Also, this ad for this beer brand, Josef Bierbitzch Golden Pilsner.
posted by iviken at 9:25 AM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Much like the FC:UK campaign last century, you have to know the word to recognise it.

I don't think it should have been banned, but there was something so incredibly annoying about "FC:UK"; to this day I have a purely negative reaction to French Connection because of it.
posted by oliverburkeman at 9:31 AM on February 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


Every time I see an MUFG ad I try to figure out what dirty phrase it's an Internet acronym for.
posted by aaronetc at 9:55 AM on February 21, 2015


It's silly that thousands of people filed complaints. It's also silly to tell those people to just change the channel, because come on. But these ads are terrible and dumb and I've already decided to not use the website unless maybe they stop with the terrible, dumb ads. So I guess nobody wins here?
posted by dogwalker at 10:15 AM on February 21, 2015


♫ I'd like to buy the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow white turtle doves.

I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to buy the world a Coke
And keep it company
That's the real thing ♫

Our 5th grade choir teacher really stressed that "furnish" and "it" should be kept separate.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:08 AM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


There was a gum commercial few years back that had people yelling fake curses at each other. "What the French toast?" Is the only one I remember, but it always made me giggle.
posted by Biblio at 11:19 AM on February 21, 2015


I've seen these commercials dozens of times, and this is the first I've heard that "booking" is a stand-in for "fucking". Fucking dot yeah? Is that a common saying in the UK? Because it doesn't make any sense to my American ears.

Me too. Never occurred to me that it was an innuendo. Maybe I'm just slow.
posted by octothorpe at 12:02 PM on February 21, 2015


JoeZydeco: How many UK viewers complained about the word "frak" on the Battlestar Galactica reboot?

Fucking none*, because you can fucking swear as much as you fucking like on a British programme as long as it goes out after 9pm, cf The Thick Of It and Malcolm Tucker's "What is this? Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Cunt?" line. This goes for UK terrestrial channels, and not just satellite/cable.

That's programmes, though, in which people either know what to expect, because they've seen it previously, or because the continuity announcer prefaces the start of the show with an advisory warning. Ads are a different thing entirely though, and even though there are ads which can't be shown pre-watershed, the general expectation is that they'll be more restrained. This ad is the not-very-clever televisual equivalent of flicking the Vs at one of your parents while they give you a telling off, but feigning innocence because your chin is resting between your index and middle fingers.



*caveat: some people may have complained that characters were saying "frak" rather than "fuck".
posted by Len at 12:09 PM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


You want 'fuck' in an advert? If it ain't Stiff it ain't worth a fuck is (to me) a hoho play on words. It likely was seen most in the places its intended audience frequented. It's honest. I doubt Stiff would pretend that they didn't mean 'fuck' but meant something else.

Stan Boardman led us up the garden path with his Fokker Joke. That was on live TV and he got into trouble for it, but watching it made me smile. Again, he can't pretend that he meant something else and the viewer has a dirty mind.

Putting an advert containing the lines Look at the view, look at the booking view. This is exactly what you booking needed on before the Paddington Bear film, or printing TOO BUSY TO FCUK on tee shirts sold to pubescent girls is just different.
posted by StephenB at 1:56 PM on February 21, 2015




Biblio: "There was a gum commercial few years back that had people yelling fake curses at each other. "What the French toast?" Is the only one I remember, but it always made me giggle."

Here ya go. Orbit Gum.
posted by Splunge at 3:14 PM on February 21, 2015


Some years ago, before my commuter bus put up signs prohibiting talking on cell phones, there was a memorable ride with a 20-something talking to his brother, who fucking applied the same fucking adjective to every fucking noun and every fucking verb.

Fucking after he fucking got off the fucking bus, the fucking guy who had been fucking sitting next to him on that fucking ride fucking started to fucking speak. "How do you spell New Jersey? Fuckin' N. Fuckin' E. Fuckin' W. Fucking J..."

Fucking yeah we fucking laughed. Fuck!!?!
posted by hexatron at 3:42 PM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Am I the only one who heard those Verizon ads and didn't realize that "half fast Internet" was a play on "halfassed"? I guess I just didn't expect... humor... from Verizon. It has sort of an uncanny-valley / dog-playing-piano thing to it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 4:34 PM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


Kadin, thanks for clearing that one up for me. I've been trying to figure out what people were getting at all thread...
posted by I-Write-Essays at 4:38 PM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


If you are a film collective making ads, you are not “infamous”; you are “tools”.
posted by scruss at 9:23 AM on February 21
[6 favorites +] [!]


Thanks for dismissing a group of people offhand because they make commercials. You know, like most directors and producers.

I've worked with Traktor a bunch. They're nice people, very creative, totally professional. I have no idea why that makes them "tools."
posted by rock swoon has no past at 4:47 PM on February 21, 2015 [6 favorites]


This kerfluffle reminds me of all the "B0ok you!" graffiti in various places at my elementary school. I'm sure Holden Caulfield would have an opinion on the issue as well.
posted by TedW at 4:20 AM on February 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Also, I'm not sure how the advertisements could have been seen as profane. Obscene, perhaps. (Yes, I am being fucking pedantic. But at least not vulgar.)
posted by TedW at 4:29 AM on February 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've seen this commercial a number of times in the US btw. Guess no one complained?
posted by zutalors! at 6:07 AM on February 22, 2015


Guess no one complained?

Not sure we can infer that. After all, the adverts are still being shown in the UK too. Given the typically greater sensitivity of the US to sexual swearing, compared to the UK. (to the extent such thing is possible between nations of ~300m and ~65m people), it seems unlikely that there was no reaction.

But, of course, the UK is as at least as good at ridiculous short term hysteria about the media as any other country, so it's quite possible that we managed to stage this ridiculous overreaction without it having any US counterpart.

I'd blame the Daily Mail, but the BBC doesn't show adverts so the Mail probably didn't care about this.
posted by howfar at 6:37 AM on February 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


I have no idea why that makes them "tools."

tool
noun \ˈtül\
1 a : a handheld device that aids in accomplishing a task
b (1) : the cutting or shaping part in a machine or machine tool (2) : a machine for shaping metal : machine tool
2 a : something (as an instrument or apparatus) used in performing an operation or necessary in the practice of a vocation or profession
b : an element of a computer program (as a graphics application) that activates and controls a particular function
c : a means to an end
d often vulgar : penis
3 : one that is used or manipulated by another
4 plural : natural ability
posted by Sys Rq at 10:30 AM on February 22, 2015


People are complaining about this? Shut the front door!
posted by soelo at 9:08 AM on February 23, 2015


Guess no one complained?

Not sure we can infer that.


Sure, I'm mostly surprised people are saying in this thread that their "American ears" don't understand the commercial because we have our own set of these and some of the ones in this link have American voiceovers.
posted by zutalors! at 9:20 AM on February 23, 2015


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