Lithuania caught promoting itself with pictures of other countries, clashing with its 'Real is Beautiful' tagline
Lithuania’s tourism department has found itself at the centre of ridicule after being caught red-handed trying to palm off images of foreign countries as attractions within its own borders.
The embarrassing faux pas came to light when attentive members of the public noted that photographs of Slovakia and Finland were masquerading as Lithuania in its ‘Real is Beautiful’ campaign.
Compounding the embarrassment, the bureau initially sought to brush off their duplicity, claiming that the pilfered pics were simply representative of Lithuania and were used to ‘communicate emotion’. This excuse soon became the subject of ridicule on social media however, when people started posting their own genuine snaps of the east European nation.
In an age of fake news the fake tourism scandal was swift to claim a high-profile scalp, with the resignation of department head Jurgita Kazlauskiene.
Since the row erupted, the tourist board has deleted all of its fake posts from The Real is Beautiful Facebook page, which has now amassed 62,000 likes, although visitors to the page haven’t been shy at sticking the boot in - posting pictures of London and Athens filling in for the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.