The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Stars come out for National Trust advert
Dundee-born Hollywood star Brian Cox and a host of famous Scots have thrown their weight behind an ambitious campaign for the National Trust for Scotland.
The campaign, which was launched with a three-minute television advert last night, aims to boost membership by more than a third to 500,000, double the number of paid visits to one million and increase regular donor and member visits to trust properties over the next five years.
Joining Cox in the advert are some of the biggest Scottish names of stage, sport and screen including actor Gerard Butler, musician Evelyn Glennie and sporting royalty including Judy Murray, Alex McLeish and Sir Chris Hoy.
They appear alongside less familiar faces in a film which takes the unconventional approach of asking Scots what they hate about Scotland before finding out what they love about the country.
The film entitled For the Love of Scotland debuted on STV, taking over the whole of a prime-time ad break.
At three minutes, it is thought to be the longest Scottish TV advert ever made.
It revealed Sir Chris Hoy hates potholes but loves how Scots can be the best in the world.
Brian Cox hates having to work so far away from Scotland but loves how Scots all have a sense of home.
Gerard Butler loves mountains, glens and lochs and, naturally, Burns, but hates midges and smirr.
Mark Bishop, from the National Trust for Scotland, said: “Everything we do is for the love of Scotland. The hundreds of thousands of members, donors, volunteers, visitors and staff do what they do because they care about Scotland and we thought it was time to recognise that.
“The trust isn’t just here for a lovely day out, it stands for something much bigger than that.
“We’re here to protect our natural and national treasures for everyone to enjoy.”