The Scottish National Party is to lodge an official complaint with Germany’s advertising association, arguing the long-established marketing technique is offensive.
Angus Robertson MP, the party’s Westminster leader, said the phrase promotes an unfair racial stereotype that Scots are mean and advertisers would not dare make the same association with orthodox Jews.
‘Schotten Preise’ is used in Germany to market products ranging from fast food to low-cost holidays, while the names of many discount stores contain the prefix “Mac”.
Mr Robertson, the son of a German, said it was unacceptable to portray Scots in such a pejorative way. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” he argued.
“You wouldn’t do it with orthodox Jews, so why do it with Scots? The constant association of our country and people with meanness and cheapness is beginning to hit at the borders of defamation and insult.”
“Schotten Preise” may derive from the 15th century when many Scots lived in German-populated areas of the Baltic and are believed to have offered goods at competitive prices.
David McAllister, leader of Germany's governing Christian Democratic Union party, who is of Scottish descent, warned it would take years before Germans dispense with the stereotype of Scots as skinflints.
He said: “Germans are generally careful not to employ national stereotypes. But there seems to be one nation exempt from that, and that's Scotland.”
Geizkragen, one of the country's most popular price-comparison websites, uses adverts featuring a Scot wearing a kilt and tartan hat chasing coins and advising Germans how to save money.
Travel agents regularly advertise “Schotten Preise” for bargains and last year the ADAC, a German motoring club, sent an email to 15 million customers featuring a kilt-wearing Scot pushing his car to save petrol.
Oliver Flaskamper, who founded Geizkragen, said the mean Scot on his website was intended to be endearing.
He said: “We have never had any complaints, even though we are near a British army base with a lot of Scottish soldiers.”
Alex Johnstone, a Conservative MSP, accused Mr Robertson of indulging in “a kind of political correctness we could well do without”, saying he should act “in a more light-hearted and engaged way”.
Last year a Scottish cultural society in Hungary complained about Burger King launching a “Scottish menu”, arguing it portrayed Scots in a poor light.
In 2002, Kenny MacAskill, who is now Scotland’s justice minister, branded a Ford campaign in Austria as racist.
The advert showed a mechanic opening a bonnet, at which point bagpipe music started playing. A voice-over then stated: “Experience the saving potential of the new Ford engine.”