By Alan Simpson, Scottish Political Reporter | Scottish Daily Mail | 24 April 2013 |By Alan Simpson, Scottish Political Reporter | Scottish Daily Mail | 24 April 2013 |
Businessman Donald Trump has been criticised for ‘misleading’ advertisements claiming wind farms are ruining Scotland’s tourist industry.
The billionaire tycoon used an image of a Californian wind farm on a desert highway above a picture of Alex Salmond in local newspapers last December.
The advert also linked Mr Salmond’s support for wind farms to the Lockerbie bomber.
They used the words: ‘Is this the future for Scotland? Tourism will suffer and the beauty of the country is in jeopardy.
‘This is the same mind that backed the release of terrorist Al Megrahi “for humane reasons” after he ruthlessly killed 270 people on Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie.’
There were 21 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority – which ruled yesterday that the advert was ‘ misleading’ as it claimed to represent Scotland.
However, the ASA said that the reference to Al Megrahi did not breach guidelines because, despite being perceived as ‘ distasteful’, it was not offensive.
Mr Trump opposes plans for an offshore wind farm to be built within sight of his luxury golf resort in Aberdeenshire.
George Sorial, executive vicepresident for the Trump Organisation in New York, was unrepentant yesterday, saying: ‘ We actually wanted the content to be much stronger. The comments are absurd and just plain stupid.’
Last year, another advert by the Trump Organisation showing broken and rusty turbines under the heading ‘ Welcome to Scotland!’ was banned by the ASA.
It upheld complaints that the picture was taken in Hawaii, the same models were not used in Scotland and regulations would not allow such deterioration.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/04/24/complaints-over-trump-wind-farm-ads-upheld/