Scottish anti-wind turbine group's ad rapped for using images of Hawaii

Advertising watchdog also says campaign featuring pictures of a broken and rusty wind farm made exaggerated claims

by Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 September 2012

A campaigning group that showed Scotland's picturesque landscape blighted by rusty, broken wind turbines has been criticised by the advertising watchdog (same government which mandated construction of the turbines in the first place) for using images from Hawaii.

Communities Against Turbines in Scotland ran a regional press ad campaign with a banner headline, "Welcome to Scotland", and a photograph of broken and rusty wind turbines.

Alex Salmond, the first minister of Scotland, was also criticised in the campaign for wanting to build "8,750 of these monstrosities".

Scottish Renewabless, which represents the renewable energy industry in Scotland, complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that the ad was misleading and inaccurate.

The anti-wind turbine campaigning body, which is known by the acronym Trump, admitted that the photograph was not of Scotland but was "illustrative" of what could happen of the government took its renewable energy policy forward.

An image was used of a wind farm in Hawaii that had been built in 1987 and had been decommissioned in 2006. The model of turbine was so old there was not any chance that it could ever be used in Scotland (which sounds relevant, but isn’t because ‘modern’ turbines will soon look just like the ones at Ka Lae on the Big Island).

In addition the ASA said that the Scottish government's policy document stated that by 2020 there might be a maximum of 5,645 onshore and offshore turbines – well below the campaigning group's advertising claim of 8,750 (and the Word of Government defines Truth).

The ASA banned the ad campaign and told the campaigning group not to exaggerate claims (be so effective) in future ads.

(This censorship is what happens when government and corporations are one and the same.)