The Scottish government has been branded ‘hypocritical and misguided’ after choosing 80s pop icon Gary Numan as the face of a new ‘Go Green’ driving campaign.
Numan – a well-known petrolhead – was chosen to front the campaign asking drivers to leave their cars at home in an effort to go greener.
And opposition leaders have accused the Government of having a 'do what we say, not what we do' attitude after a string of embarrassing figures involving official car use were published last year.
In June 2008, First Minister Alex Salmond was caught using an official limo to visit a Leith curry house six times in his first three months of government. In one of 488 trips using the limo, Salmond travelled a ‘matter of metres’ from his official residence in Bute House on Charlotte Square in Edinburgh to nearby George Street.
Sir John Elvidge, the Scottish government's Permanent Secretary, has been shown to use his chauffeur-driven limo to travel between the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government HQ at St Andrew's House, rather than take the five-minute walk.
Overall, Scottish ministers used government limos for 3,000 trips, averaging out at 80 a week.
The latest campaign involving Gary Numan has attracted fierce criticism from Green MSP spokesperson Stan Blackley. He said: “It seems contrived to be basing the entire campaign around the song ‘Cars’ when the song itself is about how good it is to be driving around in cars.”
Patrick Harvie MSP also expressed concern about Numan fronting the campaign. He said: "The choice of Gary Numan to front an advert on reducing car use seems a little odd given he's a self-confessed petrolhead. I understand the link to the song 'Cars' but he's a strange choice all the same. They might as well have used Jeremy Clarkson!"
The campaign involves a number of TV adverts promoting a ‘travel differently’ message. Featuring Numan and his number-one single 'Cars' the radio, outdoor and online advertising will also include the campaign's Mr Earth character.
Numan is a self-declared ‘petrolhead’ and owns a fleet of fast cars, planes and speedboats. At the launch of the campaign, Numan said: “I fly aeroplanes, I like quite big cars, and fast cars, I’ve got a big boat with twin diesel engines in it, so I’m kind of being a hypocrite.”
Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said: "We fully appreciate that people need to use their cars when going about their daily lives, whether that is for business or for leisure. However, cars make a serious contribution to emissions of greenhouse gases as well as contributing to local air pollution.
"If we want to tackle the effects of climate change and achieve our world-leading emissions reduction targets, it is clear we all need to take action in a range of areas, including our travel choices.”
But the Scottish Green Party believes ministers should act as more of an example if they wish to encourage the public to use their cars less. Stan Blackley added: “It seems a bit hypocritical to be told to drive less by people who have a fleet of planes and use cars for journeys of a few metres.
“There are hundreds of songs about cars, for example those by the Beatles and Madness, which are not sung by self-confessed petrolheads.
"It seems misguided for us to be told to use cars less by people using them more than we are.”
Rob, NYC around 2 years, 5 months ago