Wrong Brum in council leaflet
Hundreds of thousands of leaflets promoting recycling in Birmingham were sent out with pictures of Birmingham, Alabama.
Hundreds of thousands of leaflets promoting recycling in Birmingham were sent out with pictures of Birmingham, Alabama.
The pamphlets entitled Recycle: Your Questions Answered, produced by Birmingham City Council have been pushed through letterboxes across the city, but are visibly lacking iconic images of the skyline including the Rotunda, the Bullring and the BT Tower.
The mistake mirrors the one made by West Midlands Conservative MEPs in January, who also used an image of the American city on their website. That blunder was spotted by Labour West Bromwich MP Tom Watson, who offered to take his rivals on a tour of the city to familiarise themselves with local landmarks.
A city council spokesman today defended the use of the image, claiming the it is a "generic skyline picture" and said that it is not supposed to be an accurate representation of Birmingham. He said: "The picture on the leaflet is meant to symbolically represent an urban area. Since its first publication last year, the leaflet has been well-received by residents, and is the most requested document to be produced by the Fleet and Waste Management Department.
"Feedback from households has been very positive - the leaflet has achieved its aim of informing citizens about the recycling options, both doorstep and other, that are available to them.
"On a total production run of 720,000 copies, the council has received just one query about the use of a generic skyline picture." The leaflet started to be dropped through 360,000 letterboxes across the city last week.
Included in it are details of what, where and when to recycle and a photograph of the Birmingham skyline.
Another photograph bears the legend 'Thank You Birmingham' above an image of a city skyline.
Despite the gaffe, council officials have insisted the pamphlet - a second print run of the Recycle: Your Questions Answered - will not be recalled, pulped or reprinted.
The mistake was spotted by Jon Cooper when the leaflet was delivered to his Kings Norton home. The 37-year-old said: "I would have thought the city council would be a bit more bothered about the image that they put out of this Birmingham, especially if it's going into hundreds of thousands of homes."