The British like nothing better than a good advertising scandal, but this one borders on the idiotic. The Scottish tourism organization VisitScotland has come under scrutiny for—horror of horrors—using plastic leaves in this photo, which advertises autumn vacations in the country. The Telegraph has a whole story on it, in which the tourism people sound irritated at even having to address the issue. "Of course some of the leaves are fake," says one. "The picture is designed to promote autumn, and despite the cooler weather recently ... it was not possible to bring on an early autumn." She adds: "As we're sure all sensible people will appreciate, as autumn has yet to begin, it would be rather difficult to create this beautiful autumnal shot without the use of a few minor props." The little girl in the photo is named Autumn Doring—a name which, in light of the leaves issue, was subsequently questioned as well. But the tourism people say that's really her name. "We especially went out and found an Autumn," says the rep.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

See also:
Scotland overpays for new tourism slogan
Scottish film group touts nation's ugliness