B&B. The Battle of Britain's beaches. Brighton & Blackpool vs. Skeg-Vegas as Skegness depicts Brighton and Blackpool as graffiti covered eyesores.

A British seaside resort has been warned that "people who live in glass houses should not throw stones" after it launched an advertising campaign portraying rivals as graffiti riddled eyesores.

A PROVOCATIVE advertising campaign championing Skegness’s cultural prestige above that of unfavourably portrayed rival resorts, has sparked widespread controversy and debate.

Skegness based artist John Byford, who took the photographs featured in both adverts, has also congratulated East Lindsey District Council on having the courage to make such a provocative step.

The Campaign featured on National TV and in the National press.

The posters were not so objectionable at first glance: photographs of Blackpool and Brighton beneath fierce blue skies, the kind of summer weather the nation's seaside resorts might be craving. It was only upon closer inspection they revealed something less desirable: glimpses of Blackpool Tower and Brighton's famous Promenade obscured by walls scrawled with graffiti. Over the image, a slogan:

"For sights you'll want to remember – visit Skegness."

East Lindsey council's campaign – to promote its upcoming SO arts festival – has sparked a furore since it launched last week. Posters in rival resorts raised hackles while local papers pulled planned ad spots. The battle raged across print, TV and radio; online discussions grew heated. The president of Stay Blackpool wondered at the sourness and labelled it a dirty tricks campaign.

"We really weren't trying to upset Blackpool or Brighton, and we did warn them in advance," said James Gilbert, communications manager for East Lindsey. "The idea was to give us a platform to discuss the seaside towns of the country, and for them to have an opportunity to promote their towns too."

Gilbert has been heartened by the campaign's success. "It was even a question on the Million Pound Drop the other night." It was, he said, "a Marmite campaign, but we've had more praise than complaints, and for a small amount of money we've generated millions of pounds' worth of publicity for our coast. And not just our coast – it has raised the profile of all British seaside towns." In an Olympic year, are doing their utmost to coax tourists out of the capital – and to encourage a nation smitten with cheap foreign travel to holiday on home soil.