Campaign targets rail passengers

The posters show Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, in Australia, with a small upside-down poster of Torbay's logo on a nearby tree.

It is the latest controversial ad to highlight the attractions of the resort.

Previous posters have shown Marrakech, Mars, and a garden shed.

But some residents say the latest poster does more for Australia than the English Riviera.

I wonder how many resorts in Australia use photos of Torbay in their ads? Tina Stockman

Tina Stockman, of the Strand Art Gallery in Brixham, said: "The connection with Torbay is so subtle it hardly figures in the perception of the image.

"Nearly everyone I have shown the ad to say it is advertising Australia. People do not look at ads like that for long.

"I wonder how many resorts in Australia use photos of Torbay in their ads?"

The agency behind the posters says it has achieved its objective by getting so many people to talk about it.

Peter Travis, from the Travis Sully agency, which has been dealing with the Torbay account for 20 years, said: "We are faced with huge competitive threats on domestic tourism with cheap flights to Europe.

We want to engage and charm and impress people Peter Travis

"The English Riviera has to stand out and be counted, to stand out from the crowd.

"We all see about 5,000 advertisements a day and the only one you are talking about is one for the English Riviera. That's the real skill of this campaign."

He said that the agency wanted, with a small budget, to produce a poster which stopped people in their tracks.

He said: "We probably spend more time thinking about where we are going on holiday than any other decision we take each year, so we want to engage and charm and impress people.

"The English Riviera campaign is about saying 'This resort is more stylish, more aspirational and much better than any other resort in the UK and can stand comparison with any destination anywhere in the world.'"

Torbay tourism boss Tim Whitehead said the poster campaign, which cost �35,000, had achieved its aim, of attracting controversy.

He said: "We have a limited budget - we can't afford newspaper ads - so we rely on being seen.

"We have offended people in the past with our posters. But we can't just put another picture of local landmarks on the posters.

"It is about creating awareness and the more of that the better."