Just as a mock photo of Portugal’s president Cavaco Silva made to look like IMF chief Christine Lagarde is doing the rounds of social media, another bizarre image has come to light in China, showing our head of state selling property in the Algarve.
As newspapers have been quick to point out, it was a marketing ploy by property agency Remax which distributed 182,000 leaflets at last month’s Peking Fair featuring Cavaco – in a customary pose this time (not dressed up in a grey wig or wearing a woman’s clothes) – saying: “Don’t buy without consulting me first”.
The bizarre campaign was ‘denounced’ by online Portal Martim Moniz, which prompted Remax into explanations.
The company said it had not organised any excursion to the fair in question, and that the leaflets had been organised by four agents, acting “on their own initiative”.
The agency, which operates through franchising, told national tabloid Correio da Manhã that it “laments any damage caused”, as much to the image of President Cavaco Silva as to its own reputation.
