A PR dream or disaster? Jet2's holiday advert finds new life as joke meme
It sounds like a PR dream, but is it?
That's the question no doubt being pondered at the headquarters of Jet2 – the budget travel firm that has found itself at the centre of a runaway TikTok meme which shows the less glamorous side of British summer holidays.
The trend began as a joke: Jet2's relentlessly cheerful jingle, Jess Glynne's Hold My Hand, played over the most cheerless summer holiday footage found on social media.
Plane fights, water sports accidents and drunken disasters are all soundtracked by the theme tune as the tagline 'Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday' is announced the saccharine voiceover.
The line has become social media code for travel plans gone wrong, with users pairing the audio with clips of holiday mishaps, minor chaos and anything that falls short of the usual polished posts.
In one TikTok video with more than 1.6m likes, a woman almost drowns in waist-high water and has to be saved by a lifeguard after coming out of a water slide in Tenerife.
Another post set to the sound with 16k likes shows a man laying on a sun lounger by the pool as rain drenches him. More than 1.3m other videos have used the sound and the hashtag #nothingbeatsajet2holidays has more than 25.5k posts.
Jet2 has not commented on the trend, but the company has leaned into it on social media, posting its own clip using the same audio and launching a challenge, offering a £1,000 holiday voucher as a prize.
Zoë Lister, the voice actor who utters the now famous line, and singer Jess Glynne have both weighed in. Glynne posted a TikTok video miming the voiceover, and Lister has appeared on radio re-enacting the famed slogan.
Campaigns like Jet2's challenge show how brands are trying to meet users where they are, but doing so means learning to speak the platform's language, said Dr Andreas Schellewald, a researcher in digital culture.
'From a brand point of view, this is still tricky terrain and more tactical rather than strategic. This definitely adds great reach for the Jet2 brand – at the same time, brand marketing is not just about awareness but also resonance and reaction, for which I assume brands usually still prefer to have more control over how they are perceived publicly', he said.
The advert may have found new life as a meme, but its social media DNA was there from the start, according to Adam Gordon, a social media strategist and co-founder of the social media agency a Friendly Bunch.
'The original Jet2 TV ads were deliberately social media led – the hold my hand line was always married to an on-screen POV shot of someone holding someone's hand – a classic Instagram holiday shot – so the seeds were sown early, and deliberately.
'The irony is that the Jet2 ad was born out of the old glossy age of Instagram perfection, but this meme has dragged it into the messy imperfection of the TikTok era. A crystal clear sign of the times in the world of social media,' he added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
STEPHEN DAISLEY President made Starmer look small and shifty... he's like a new leader of the opposition
Keir Starmer and Donald Trump are like one of those couples on a TV matchmaker competition who are so wildly incompatible you just know they'll end up going on the most awkward date ever. And it was awkward, all right. Nobbled by the hacks on the way into their press conference at Trump's golf course at Turnberry in Ayrshire, the prime minister might have been hoping his unlikely companion would wave off the questions and head inside. A quick off the record natter and down to business. Like that was going to happen. This is Donald Trump. He is drawn to TV cameras like overmanned dinghies are drawn to Dover. Naturally, the question was the last one Starmer wanted: immigration. He yapped pathetically about the deportations carried out since he came to power, while Trump steamrollered ahead with a lengthy jeremiad about how migrants had changed Europe. 'Europe is a much different place than it was five years, ten years ago,' he rambled. 'They've got to get their act together. If they don't, you're not going to have Europe anymore as you know it. You can't do that.' Truly, this was a historic summit. The first presidential visit to be recorded as a non-crime hate incident. Once inside, the prime minister and the president sat in tandem to field questions from the media. The pairing was bizarre, the tension palpable, every second breathtaking. It's a wonder it wasn't blocked under the Online Safety Act. Like all doomed couples, they couldn't see eye to eye on their friends. 'I'm not a fan of your mayor,' Trump opined to a reporter. 'I think he's done a terrible job. The mayor of London. He's a nasty person.' Starmer's face fell like his poll numbers. With a nervous chuckle in his voice, he chirped: 'He's a friend of mine.' Trump stared ahead, deadpan: 'No, he's done a terrible job — but I would still visit London.' Starmer cringed. The only thing missing was the theme tune from Curb Your Enthusiasm. Mark Twain called golf 'a good walk spoiled', but he was talking out of his hole-in-one. This was pure entertainment. I still reckon a birdie is something in the sky and bogey the bloke in Casablanca, but if every golf club puts on a show like this, sign me up. Every time Trump went on a verbal wander around his own thoughts, Starmer sat gape-mouthed, which was helpful since it gave the president somewhere to stick his foot every minute or so. The prime minister looked almost relieved to take a question on farming and inheritance tax, no doubt assuming even Trump couldn't find a way to mess this up for him. Then the president began recounting how he had removed the estate tax from family farms, mindful that farmers like to keep their land in the family and noting the increased risks of suicide where they were not allowed to do so. Starmer, whose government plans to whomp British farms with new death taxes, sat there in stoney silence. Excruciating doesn't begin to cover it. I get secondary embarrassment very easily. The sight of someone else humiliated has my cheeks smouldering like volcanoes. It's just too agonising to watch. I bit through so many fingernails yesterday afternoon I skipped dinner entirely. The lowest moment for Starmer came when a journalist asked: 'The president makes it look easy dealing with illegal migrants. You must be envious of his record in such a short period of time.' Starmer squirmed like an eel in a well-tailored suit, acknowledging the issue and the importance of tackling it. Trump beamed in satisfaction. Finally, someone from the media who wasn't Fake News. The discussion turned to internet censorship, as Trump learned that new powers would allow the nation to shut down his Truth Social network. 'I don't think he's going to censor my site because I only say nice things,' he insisted, turning to Starmer and pleading: 'Will you please uncensor my site?' The prime minister explained, in a excitable word jumble, that there were no plans to suppress Truth Social and maintained the new laws were aimed at protecting children. Asked if he could give Starmer any tips for beating Nigel Farage, Trump recommended tax cuts, cracking down on crime and curbing illegal immigration. Starmer was as impassive as a statue. All three were popular policies in Britain, but now if he did anyone of them he would be seen as taking Trump's advice. The president then congratulated Starmer for 'becoming strong on immigration'. As if he didn't have enough problems with the parliamentary Labour party, now he'd have to explain why Bad Orange Man was bigging up his border policies. Every time Trump threw Starmer a rope it had a noose on the end. Then we came to the wind mills. The president is famously not a fan. Probably intimidated by the only creations that generate more hot air than him. 'When we go to Aberdeen,' he mused, drifting off on a tangent, 'they have some of the ugliest windmills you've ever seen.' These 'ugly monsters', he told the viewers at home, had a lifespan of eight years, would have to be dumped in the ocean, and required 'massive subsidies' to sustain them. He had stopped as many in the US as he could. Alas, some 'poor stupid people' had approved a number of them before he came along. Starmer, who approves of windmills, didn't seem to like that. There was the mildest of twitches in his otherwise disciplined facial expression. His countenance was that of a condemned prisoner having his death warrant read out and wishing they would just skip to the shooting. Trump proposed an alternative energy source, one that involved creating only a hole in the ground 'this big' — he cupped his hands by way of illustration. He was talking about drilling the North Sea bed for oil. At this juncture, Starmer looked like he would happily climb into a hole in the sea, anything to escape this televised torture. Trump is awful, of course, but he's a wonderful kind of awful. He's that friend everyone has who is a bit of a rogue but so damn charming you can't resist them. Watching one of his press conferences is like being present at a bomb disposal operation. You find yourself fixated on his every word, tic, breath and flutter of the eyes, knowing that, any second now, he could cut the wrong wire and blow everyone to kingdom come. Mercifully, the press conference concluded without any detonations, but the prime minister still looked shellshocked. Without really trying Trump had made him look small and shifty, doing a number on his credibility that Kemi Badenoch would struggle to manage. The man's only been in the country a few days and already he's the new leader of the opposition. The Labour leader wasn't the only politician left reeling by Trump's restless tongue. The president proposed that there not be another referendum on Scottish independence for 50 or 75 years. Given how slow progress is under John Swinney, the SNP rank and file should take Trump up on his offer. The political class resents Trump and, yes, he is vulgar, crass, short-tempered and toweringly arrogant, but he speaks in a plain, direct language never heard in British politics. There's no artifice there. He's too much of an egomaniac for that. But for all his flaws, two men sat before the world's press yesterday and while one could brag about his successes in office the other could only squirm.
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Like an open book! Joy for Nicola Sturgeon as she receives advance copy of her memoir
It has been controversially billed as a political memoir to rival that of Barack Obama. And yesterday former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon looked delighted as she took delivery of advance copies of her forthcoming book. Ms Sturgeon's memoirs, entitled 'Frankly', will be launched on August 14 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The book, for which she received an advance of £300,000, promises to be a 'personal and revealing memoir'. The 55-year-old posted pictures of herself with the first hard copies of the book on social media site Instagram yesterday. Amazon describes the book as: 'Full of the verve and wit that made Sturgeon one of the most high-profile politicians in the UK, this is a unique blend of personal insight and captivating vignettes. 'Infused throughout with a love of Scotland and its people, it honestly discusses Sturgeon's mistakes, her battles, and her triumphs.' But a quote on Amazon from the author Andrew O'Hagan hailing the book as 'a triumph' and 'the interior life of our generation' was recently ridiculed after he added: 'Frankly is the most insightful and stylishly open memoir by a politician since Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father.' Critics have previously said that her track record of failing to recall key information during inquiries into the Alex Salmond affair, Covid and the ferries fiasco meant that the book will need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Later, she told the UK Covid Inquiry she had deleted her WhatsApp exchanges about Covid in line with policy. In a social media post earlier this year, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I have poured my heart into this book, it tells the story of my personal journey, it recounts the extraordinary events that I have been privileged to live and to lead through.' It came as it was revealed that Ms Sturgeon will give an 'in-depth' interview ahead of the launch of her memoir, broadcasters have revealed. The former First Minister will be interviewed by ITV News next month just days before her book is published on August 14. The 55-year-old will be interviewed by ITV News at Ten presenter, Julie Etchingham. Ms Etchingham said: 'Nicola Sturgeon is quite simply one of the stand-out politicians of a generation. From her rise as a working class girl to the pinnacle of Scottish politics as first female First Minister, she has charted dizzying political heights to being hailed the most dangerous woman in Britain. 'In what I hope will be a revealing encounter, I can't wait to see how Nicola Sturgeon lifts the lid on her politics, life and legacy - and to find out where she heads next.' The special programme, which will be aired as part of ITV News on August 11 at 7pm, will focus on the former SNP leader's 'successes and controversies, highpoints and setbacks, personal insights and political flashpoints'.
The Sun
22 minutes ago
- The Sun
I swapped injections for ‘Botox in a bottle' that costs less than a tenner – and you can buy it in Boots
A WOMAN has shared the cheap buy that acts like 'Botox' with no injections. Nina, from the UK, took to social media to share the beauty item that many say gets rid of wrinkles overnight. 3 BUY NOW In the clip, she said: "Big claims, but they call this Botox in a bottle. "They launched it on TikTok and it sold out within a week." The TikTok package comes with two products from The Ordinary, their Matrixyl 10% solution and the Argireline. This lightweight Matrixyl serum helps reduce the appearance of static and dynamic wrinkles and helps boost collagen. The Argireline solution lessens facial tension, relaxing and smoothing out skin to get rid of wrinkles. The product costs just £9.20 from Boots and is also available on TikTok shop. "I'm no stranger to Botox, but if you don't want needles in your face, this is definitely a great alternative," she explained. She shared her review on her TikTok account @ justnina_official which went viral with over 5,000 likes. But Nina isn't the only person who loves the Argireline solution. On the Boots website, the product has rave reviews from customers. 4 ways to banish wrinkles WITHOUT Botox or fillers One person wrote: "I have been using this for about 6 months. It has really made a difference in the"11" lines between my brows, they're barely visible now." Another commented: "After just a couple weeks I could see a difference in my forehead! Wonderful product!" "I've been using this product for about a month now and absolutely love the way it makes my skin look and feel. It has definitely softened out my fine lines on my forehead," penned a third. How to reverse ageing in just 2 weeks, according to royal go-to nutritionist LONDON -based Gabriela Peacock, who has helped the likes of Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie prepare for their weddings. She told Fabulous: 'The science is evident that we all have the power to make simple life changing alterations to better our future selves - no matter what genetic hand we might have been dealt with. 'The reality is, we all sometimes indulge in unhealthy eating habits like processed foods, smoking cigarettes, drinking too much alcohol, inhaling city pollutants, and even drinking water from plastic bottles – none of this is good for us. 'All this does is promote the ageing process, but we all have the potential to change this.' It may be hard, but try to keep away from sugary carbohydrates, because they feed chronic inflammation, which is one of the worst enemies of reversing ageing. Now only will you end up putting on weight if you consume them regularly, but your energy and hormonal levels will be affected and this will influence how you look and feel. Whatever your age or state of health, it's never too late to reverse how quickly you are ageing and embrace the energy and vigour of a younger you. Antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, and E, are essential in neutralising free radicals—the culprits behind premature ageing. Integrating a spectrum of colourful fruits and vegetables into your diet provides a potent source of antioxidants. Omega-3 fatty acids, abundant in fatty fish like salmon and flaxseeds, are vital for maintaining skin elasticity and hydration. Omega-3s act as nourishment for your skin, locking in moisture and diminishing fine lines and wrinkles. Collagen, a structural protein dwindling with age, can be replenished through collagen-rich foods like bone broth and lean protein sources. Meanwhile a fourth said: "This lightweight serum is like Botox in a bottle — no needles needed. I've been using it on my forehead + around the eyes, and the fine lines are noticeably softer." "Such an amazing product. Made my skin so smooth in just 2 weeks. No wonder it's Botox in a bottle,' claimed a fifth
