Monday, February 16, 2009



When a picture is worth a lot less than 1,000 words



We read:
"A tourist board has come under fire for "tricking" travellers by using a picture of a picturesque tropical island to advertise Spanish beaches. The ad claims to show a woman on the sand of Spain's Costa Brava beach however it has been revealed as a photo of the Bahamas.

The tourist board has denied cheating in the campaign, which was launched last month, despite admitting that the photo came from a Getty Images series shot on a topical beach 8000 kilometres from Spain. The tourist board has also admitted that the picture, emblazoned with the slogan "Where does the Costa Brava start?", was digitally altered to dull the white sand in order to make it look more like Costa Brava's greyer beaches.

Dolors Batalle, the director of the Costa Brava Girona tourism board, told local media that it had simply failed to find pictures "of sufficient quality" of the real Costa Brava.

Source

If you REALLY want to see deserted sandy beaches, book a ticket to Cairns in Northern Australia. And you don't have to press "1" for English there, either.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does anyone really believe any claims that adverts make - if so "more fool they"!

Anonymous said...

It sounds like something an American ad agency cooked up. Why tell the people, (see: fools) the truth when you don't have to!

Anonymous said...

Hello Good Gentles All!

Since when has truth ever been a part of advertising?

Has anyone ever seen a hamburger that looks anything like the one pictured on the menu?

Pax,

InFides

Anonymous said...

Don't know about the Costa Brava, but there are plenty of nice quiet beaches on the southern end of the Costa Blanca and on the Costa Calida.

Of course that area isn't as touristy as the more northerly areas, which is just as we like it.

Of course the ad doesn't claim the picture was taken on the Costa Brava (even though it alludes it). The question could be construed in combination with the picture as meaning that any beach can be your Costa Brava (I do hope that's not the case, I hate tourist traps).

Anonymous said...

Hmmm i,ll bet with the crowded beach the seagulls are happy and content