Trump's Anti-Wind Ad Gets Trumped

Written by Derek Markham

The Trump Organization and Communities Against Turbines Scotland (CATS) had a bit of a setback in their anti-wind campaigns this week, as one of their ads was banned from publication in the UK by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The ad campaign featured an image of rusty and neglected-looking wind turbines below the headline “Welcome to Scotland”, and featured the text, “Alex Salmond wants to build 8,750 of these monstrosities – think about it.” below it, along with information on a rally that CATS is hosting.

The problem is, those dilapidated wind turbines aren’t anywhere near Scotland – they’re from a wind power site in Hawaii that was decommissioned after 20 years of service. For astute readers, there is a small disclaimer on the bottom of the ad which says “Photo not taken in Scotland” in tiny text (easy to miss at a casual glance, what with the word TRUMP written across the bottom in large text).

And then there’s the claim of the 8,750 wind turbines that the ad says are going to be built. The exaggerated claim for the number of renewable energy “monstrosities” came from some fancy number-shuffling from CATS, and misleads readers to think that those figures are from official government statements.

Thanks to the quick thinking of Scottish Renewables, the ASA investigated the offending ad and found that it breached their code by being misleading and lacking substantiation. The decision of the ASA about the Trump Group and CATS ads:

“The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Trump and CATS to ensure that the pictures they used in future ads reflected the types of turbines likely to be used in Scotland, and not to exaggerate the number of turbines likely to be installed or the possible consequences of the Scottish Government’s plans to use wind turbines.” – ASA

This post was originally published by TreeHugger.

Read more: donald trump, wind power

Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr

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natalie n.

8:35AM PDT on Oct 1, 2012

greedy, money-grabbing corporates who show how ignorant they are of sustainable practices and how they can actually make a difference in saving the environment. shame on them for such uncouth behaviour!

October 1
send a green star

vee s.

4:59AM PDT on Oct 1, 2012

Daniel - I could not have put it better. Thank you so much for your wonderfeul rhetoric. Sadly, the local Council debated his planning application and then said yes - I suspect because they were persuaded that it would bring lots of lovely jobs and prosperity to the area. There was a huge outcry and local people did rise up - but to no avail. Even if they had succeeded initially he would have gone to appeal - and the "independant" government inspector would undoubtedly have allowed the appeal. After that there is no redress. If you can hire clever lawyers to make your case, and to say what the planning people want to hear, then local people seldom if ever have a chance.

Angela R.

9:40AM PDT on Sep 29, 2012

As if he'd listen... .

September 29
send a green star

Daniel A.

1:44PM PDT on Sep 28, 2012

People of Scotland, Picts, Angles, Saxons, and Danes:
Arise! You bonnie braes are being broken. Your glens will be gruesome. The Trump is tromping your turf. Does he not have enough green in other lands whereon he can place his fat mashie? Must he place his Trump rump where royals rode? Should he be allowed to play the dunce in Doone? Gird yourselves gaels! Ride him out on rails!
Send him packing. Robbie Burns retches regarding this reprobate!
March, Howl, Shout, Yell. Send this Donald straight to North Korea!
Good luck to you all, from a Yank who commiserates with the People of the North!