They say that 50 per cent of advertising works 50 per cent of the time. The problem is, you’re never quite sure which 50 per cent.
On Brexit Day – well, the scheduled one on March 29 – the Scottish Government launched a glitzy advertising appeal to Europe on the theme of “Let’s continue our love affair”.
The £2.1million advert, funded by public agencies, was screened at international airports including Munich and Paris and published in prestigious newspapers like France’s Le Monde, Spain’s El Pais and Germany’s Der Spiegel.
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The beach looked brilliant and the casting agent for the smooth, dark-haired actor declaring: “Hey Europe , Scotland is open to you” must have had the phone ringing off the hook.
But the advert, which we loved, probably missed its mark.
Two weeks ago, in a humdrum Commons committee hearing, the romantic strain of the boyfriend on the beach mini-drama took a hard slap from the reality of what European workers think of Scotland.
MPs were taking evidence on the effectiveness, or otherwise, of a pilot scheme for migrant workers.
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Stephanie Maurel, from Concordia – one of two firms handling the pilot immigration scheme for agricultural workers – was asked casually about Scotland’s attractiveness as a destination. Casual, in that the assumption of the question was we’re a great place.
Her answer left MPs shocked.
She said agencies like hers struggle to get people to go to Scotland.
Maurel added: “We think there is more of an issue in Scotland in terms of recruitment, than England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is a perception issue to the point that we will get a worker in Bucharest coming into our agent’s office saying, ‘I will do anything but I won’t do strawberries and I won’t do Scotland.’”
“They may never have been to Scotland or the UK before, yet in their mind, they will earn less or will not be treated as well in Scotland.
“We have videos and leaflets that do an excellent job of showing that is not the case but there is a really strong mindset that potential workers do not want to go to Scotland.”
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If they had been showing the “Scotland loves Europe” advert, it would have melted in the projector at this point.
As a main plank of their Remain campaign, and for independence, the SNP Government has drummed home how Scotland’s economy will need migrants as the native population gets older.
Evidence of that is all around. In December, there were 2396 nursing vacancies in Scotland, 5.1 per cent of all posts.
Scottish ministers argue for a separate immigration policy and for freedom of movement to continue.
This is despite figures showing that 55 per cent of Scots (about eight per cent less than in England) think there has been too much immigration in the last decade.
For whatever reason – and the weather might be a factor – immigration into Scotland is quite meagre, with about 80,000 incoming met by 59,000 on the way out last year.
Overall, about 11,000 people came to live here from the rest of the world last year and a net 10,000 from the rest of the UK.
What’s clear from that is Scotland cannot look on immigration from the EU as some kind of silver bullet to address population decline outside the central belt.
What has to be worked out is ways to make young Scots stay in rural areas or return to them after their college or university education.
That means devolving jobs outside cities, more rural housing aimed at single people and policies and spaces that make living there more female friendly.
That involves the hard grind of policy and is less glamorous work than basking in self-reinforcing myths about a Scottish boyfriend on the beach.
Especially when it turns out Europe is just not that into us.
