Advertisements meant to draw Belgians to London, one depicting a shirtless skinhead, whose back is painted with the English flag, urinating into a tea cup, have drawn mixed reaction from train passengers in London and Belgium, the Daily Mail reports.
Click here to read the full story and see pictures of the ads in the Daily Mail.
"I don't think this daft promotion will get people over here. I didn't realize it was for Eurostar — I thought it might be a beer or a diuretic," said Patrick Tyson-Cain, 61, a freelance interpreter from Bath.
Other advertisements show look-alikes for former prime ministers Tony Blair, John Major and Margaret Thatcher holding Union flag balloons and knitting needles and read: “Attention! London is around the corner.”
The campaign coincides with the new highspeed Eurostar service which was launched on Wednesday, travelling from St Pancras to Brussels in one hour 51 minutes.
The ad campaign comes around the same time of Wednesday’s Eurostar service launch, which travels from St. Pancras to Brussels in one hour and 51 minutes. A spokeswoman said it was intended to poke fun at the English with the aim of painting them as a people with a sense of humor.
"The Belgians very much look to the British and identify with them,” she said. “They like the royalty and the pomp, but at the same time they love the street life and the edginess about London.”
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