Atout, the French tourism board, has been forced to apologise after using pictures of golden sands in the States (Clearwater Beach in Florida, if you want specifics) to advertise France’s northern coastline as part of its £600,000 ‘France: come and play campaign’.
What’s more, it’s not the first time that Atout has been left red faced: the tourism development agency slipped up in March when it used a photograph of a beach in Cape Town (South Africa), to entice tourists to the Channel coastline.
Some have called The Line Agency (the UK based creative agency behind the campaign and thus responsible for the double faux pas), cheeky. Others say they are sloppy. Regardless, here at CD-Traveller towers, we think it is just downright bizarre. France boasts bountiful beautiful and glamorous beaches so there’s really no need to run images of their South African or American counterparts.
