ANDREW CARNEGIE, Dunfermline's most famous son and once the richest man on the earth, is being used to flog cheesy snacks. 

A mouse's nose, whiskers and ears have been added to an image of the steel king for a TV commercial selling Jacob's Mini Cheddars. 

Sharp-eyed viewers spotted the doctored portrait of Carnegie – the original hangs in a gallery in Washington DC – in the firm's 'Cheddar Appreciation Society' ad campaign. 

Local historian Sheila Pitcairn said: "He deserves better than this. 

"It's disrespectful to oor Andrew and I don't think Dunfermliners want that as he was a great man, no doubt about it."

Carnegie was born in Dunfermline in 1835 and later emigrated to the USA where, after starting work on the railroads, he made his wealth. 

He sold the Carnegie Steel Company, based in Pittsburgh, to JP Morgan for $480 million in 1901. 

A great philanthropist, he gave away 90 per cent of his fortune to charities, foundations and universities and founded the world's first Carnegie library in Dunfermline in 1883. 

Around 3,000 libraries opened with his support. 

Carnegie's money helped build the Peace Palace in the Hague in Holland and Carnegie Hall in New York – the venue in Dunfermline is the second and was named in his honour – and he bought and then gifted Pittencrieff Park to the people of Dunfermline. 

He died in 1919.

Sheila added: "Andrew Carnegie enjoyed a good joke and didn't mind the cartoons about him – they're in the birthplace museum – as they were patriotic, showing him in a wee kilt or with a two-sided flag, Scotland on one side and America on the other. 

"But I don't think this is appropriate. He shouldn't be mocked."

The original portrait of Carnegie, gifted by his granddaughter Margaret Carnegie Miller, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington DC. 

Jacob's were asked to comment by the Press but had not responded by the time we went to print. The Carnegie Dunfermline Trust did not wish to comment.