TV show cheat's ad complaint rejected

Major Charles Ingram and his wife who filed a complaint about an Easy Jet ad, have had their complaint rejected.

Major Ingram was found guilty in April this year of conning his way to the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" £1 million top prize by using a series of coded coughs from accomplice, lecturer Tecwen Whittock, to guess the right answers. His wife Diana Ingram was found guilty of helping to organise the scam.

EasyJet ran a newspaper advert soon after the verdict, which appeared in a Sunday newspaper, it carried the headline "Need a cheap getaway?" See ad? Read more.

The Ingrams complained that the ad "offensive and distressing" to them, and an invasion of their privacy since the picture had been used without their permission.

The ASA said the advert "had not unfairly portrayed them adversely or offensively and was consistent with the general media depiction of them", and while advertisers were urged to get permission before they used an individual in an advert, they were not required to obtain it.

EasyJet added the Ingrams had chosen to appear on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and were found guilty of trying to defraud the show. It argued it "could not therefore offend or distress" the couple.