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Activities Abroad, which runs pricey trips including husky safaris in Canada and volcano trekking in Costa Rica, sent an email to 24,000 people on its database with a list of names likely to be encountered on one of its trips and a list that were not.
The company developed the strategy based on research that said that children with middle class names were eight times more likely to pass their GCSEs than children with names like Wayne and Dwayne.
Names that made it onto the "unlikely to encounter" list included Britney, Kylie-Lianne, Bianca, Tiffany, Dazza, Chardonnay, Chantelle, Candice, Courtney and Shannon.
Those on the likely list were: John, Sarah, Charles, Rachel, Michael, Alice, Lucy, Joseph and Charlotte.
The email, headed up "Chav Free Activity Holidays" has sparked outrage from some customers who have accused the firm of "smug class warfare" and said they will not use them again.
Despite the backlash managing director Alistair McLean was unrepentant in his response to the complaints.
McLean said: "I simply feel it is time the middle classes stood up for themselves. We work hard to make a decent home and life for our families and we pay our taxes to contribute to our society and economy.
"Unfortunately, everybody else in our society seems to take from us, whether it is incompetent bankers or the shell-suited urchins who haunt our street corners."
Comments
Sounds like hell - holidaying with a bunch of Daily Mail readers - argh!!!!!
I guess I'm target market for these holidays but I'd equally want to avoid Rupert, Tarquin, Clarence, Jasper, Arabella, Sophia or Victoria talking about rugger and how Eton is not what it was. Just shows you how dumb the premise is. One can promote exclusivity without being gratuitously offensive and infantile.
theONE - 27/01/2009
Rock on!... This is such a cool campaign. They forgot Casey-Stacey and Monica-Veronica.
And Chivas.
I'm sure crunchy granola was spattered across copies of the Mail up and down the commuter-belts of blighty as the middle class hoardes scoffed and gloated with glee at the high-brow humour and their clear superiority.
"I say, weally wather like the sound of these chaps - soopah idea - the Govt. weally oughtn't let the ghastly chavs and hoodies have passports."
Feckin sloanes, I hate 'em
Gav S - 28/01/2009
Er, how is this different to promoting holidays where you don't have to mix with people called Saul, Imran or Obafemi?
As well as 'chav-free', do they offer 'fag-free' or 'gyppo-free' breaks?
I'd like to go on a holiday where you're guaranteed not to meet people called Alistair McLean... :)
He didn't say anything about Rupert, Tarquin, Clarence, Jasper, Arabella, Sophia or Victoria, or Sloanes. He talked about John, Sarah, Charles, Rachel, Michael, Alice, Lucy, Joseph and Charlotte - quite a far cry from Sloaney names. I don't think it's infantile. If you're spending a few grand on your one break of the year, it's a comfort to know that the people you'll be sharing the space with have a similar idea of what constitutes a good time to your own. The names he's mentioned give out a signal - they say that these people come from families that don't crave attention or try to act differently for the sake of it. They're ordinary, modest names that don't idolise pop culture or seek meaningless fame. Nor do they have any class pretentions. They're just ordinary family names that know their place and don't try to encroach on anyone else's. A holiday with people like that sounds fine by me.
Comments
Susan Billinge - 27/01/2009
Sounds like hell - holidaying with a bunch of Daily Mail readers - argh!!!!!
CHRIS BARRACLOUGH - 27/01/2009
I guess I'm target market for these holidays but I'd equally want to avoid Rupert, Tarquin, Clarence, Jasper, Arabella, Sophia or Victoria talking about rugger and how Eton is not what it was. Just shows you how dumb the premise is. One can promote exclusivity without being gratuitously offensive and infantile.
theONE - 27/01/2009
Rock on!... This is such a cool campaign. They forgot Casey-Stacey and Monica-Veronica. And Chivas.
Steve Weston - 27/01/2009
What about my mate Dave?
gotnoteef - 27/01/2009
I'm sure crunchy granola was spattered across copies of the Mail up and down the commuter-belts of blighty as the middle class hoardes scoffed and gloated with glee at the high-brow humour and their clear superiority. "I say, weally wather like the sound of these chaps - soopah idea - the Govt. weally oughtn't let the ghastly chavs and hoodies have passports." Feckin sloanes, I hate 'em
Gav S - 28/01/2009
Er, how is this different to promoting holidays where you don't have to mix with people called Saul, Imran or Obafemi? As well as 'chav-free', do they offer 'fag-free' or 'gyppo-free' breaks? I'd like to go on a holiday where you're guaranteed not to meet people called Alistair McLean... :)
simon sinclair - 29/01/2009
He didn't say anything about Rupert, Tarquin, Clarence, Jasper, Arabella, Sophia or Victoria, or Sloanes. He talked about John, Sarah, Charles, Rachel, Michael, Alice, Lucy, Joseph and Charlotte - quite a far cry from Sloaney names. I don't think it's infantile. If you're spending a few grand on your one break of the year, it's a comfort to know that the people you'll be sharing the space with have a similar idea of what constitutes a good time to your own. The names he's mentioned give out a signal - they say that these people come from families that don't crave attention or try to act differently for the sake of it. They're ordinary, modest names that don't idolise pop culture or seek meaningless fame. Nor do they have any class pretentions. They're just ordinary family names that know their place and don't try to encroach on anyone else's. A holiday with people like that sounds fine by me.