A real French beach; Cassis, France ©austinevan
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In an effort to lure Britains to the French Mediterranean during the run of the London Olympics, a recent French ad campaign was produced with what seemed to be reputable images.
A South African photographer found that one of the images was of a beach in Cape Town, South Africa””not a beach in France. That photo was altered to represent a beach in Corsica. The French photographers’ and journalists’ union PAJ is investigating the campaign further, which also includes images of Hawaii.
The PAJ’s President Mario Fourmy said: All the images are false. They are low cost and of course have nothing to do with the tourist areas mentioned on the posters.
French beaches are still quite desirable, just not their tourism advertising. More on the advertising faux pas can be found here.