U.S. businessman DONALD TRUMP has been given "an embarrassing rebuke" by U.K. officials who ruled that an advertisement linked to his new $1.1B golf resort in Scotland was "misleading," according to Alastair Jamieson of NBC NEWS. Scotland's Advertising Standards Agency said the newspaper advertisement, which attacked plans for a nearby offshore wind energy plant and mentioned the release of the Lockerbie bomber, "could not be substantiated." Trump has "fought a long battle with authorities over the proposed wind farm, which he says will hurt Scottish tourism by spoiling the view from his Trump International Golf Club Scotland" (NBC NEWS, 4/24).
OFF THE ROAD: In London, Mark Sweney reported Trump's ad featured wind turbines overlooking a motorway -- with the caption "image taken in California" -- and the line "Tourism will suffer and the beauty of your country is in jeopardy!" The ASA received 21 complaints about the ad, including from Scottish MP PATRICK HARVIE and campaigning group Yes2Wind.com. The complaints argued Trump's ad "could not back up the claim that tourism would be put in jeopardy by the windfarm, and that the image of turbines by a U.S. motorway gave a misleading picture of what might happen in Scotland" (GUARDIAN, 4/24). The BBC wrote the ASA said that "the claim regarding tourism needed to be substantiated with robust evidence." The ASA also said that "it was misleading to imply the image of the wind turbines overlooking an American freeway was representative of a proposed wind farm in Scotland." The ad also featured a picture of First Minister ALEX SALMOND him to the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber. A complaint against that was not upheld, "although it was considered that readers were likely to find it distasteful" (BBC, 4/24).
