VisitScotland honours Shrek with his very own Tartan
VisitScotland, Scotland’s national tourism organisation, has provided a helping hand to a customer with a difference – a very large customer, who hit movie screens across the land, as the latest Shrek movie – “Shrek the Third” – which was released in Europe and the UK in June.
The organisation’s PR teams have been working closely with Paramount Pictures to explore Shrek’s possible Scottish heritage. Voice actor Mike Myers bestowed a Scottish accent on the lovable ogre when he first came to life in Shrek in 2001. VisitScotland developed the idea of a specially created Shrek tartan, which has resulted in an oversized kilt being made for the costumed character himself.
At 7ft tall and with a 102” waist, this was no ordinary kilt fitting! Lochcarron of Scotland, based in Selkirk agreed to meet the challenge and weavers at the mill worked overtime to meet the deadline to create the giant piece of green and brown tartan.
VisitScotland hopes to use the stunt as a way of promoting Scotland and how people can trace their own history and potential Scottish roots, as well as provide a bit of Scottish flavour at the film’s London press day, where they will present Shrek with the official Shrek tartan in the presence of Mike Myers.
“We wanted to highlight just how diverse Scotland’s heritage can be – and if Shrek can have a tartan, so can anyone! There are thought to be in excess of 50 million people across the world who can claim Scottish ancestry, so this is a great opportunity to be able to link our national heritage with such a well loved film character.”
Report by Chitra Mogul
