THE TELEGRAPH: The biggest manufacturer of Harris tweed has dropped the word "Scottish" from its marketing campaign in America amid fears of a consumer backlash over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
Harris Tweed Hebrides said it had to “de-Scottishify” the product after receiving feedback that sales could suffer.
The company, whose chairman, Brian Wilson, a former government minister, believes it was a mistake to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, has removed references to Scotland and Scottish imagery from its promotional material.
Instead, the firm plans to use a neutral image of a model in a tweed frock coat reclining on a couch.
Mark Hogarth, the company's creative director, said it had decided to focus on the brand's island heritage rather than its Scottish credentials ahead of the launch of its fashion collection in New York next month.
He said that he was forced to rethink the marketing campaign because of the anti-Scottish backlash that followed the release of Megrahi, 57, who is terminally ill, last month.
“We are not going to promote ourselves as a Scottish company as we would previously have done,” said Mr Hogarth.
“From everyone we spoke to in the US, the feeling came back that a serious mistake had been made in releasing Megrahi.
“It really wasn't seen as a British decision in the media there, but a Scottish one. While in Scotland and in the UK as a whole there may be a sense of ambivalence about Megrahi's guilt, in the US they are very much as one.
“We have been getting a lot of feedback and we have had to de-Scottishify the image of the brand. If he had not been released we would not have altered anything. >>> Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent | Sunday, September 13, 2009
