The government denies it has patronised Scots after producing a press release using Lego figures to demonstrate all the ways voters could spend the money they would apparently save by voting against independence.

The list of "12 things that the £1,400 UK dividend could buy", illustrated by a colourful assortment of Lego characters, appears to portray Scots as shoeless, sun-starved, football-obsessed fish supper addicts, with poor grooming habits and such limited imaginations that their favoured activity at the Edinburgh festival is eating hotdogs. They can likewise only conceive of getting on a bus if it returns them to Glasgow.

'Cover your family’s yearly shoe habit for about the next 6 years'

The list refers to the dividend announced last week by the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander. According to financial analysis from the Treasury, every Scot will be £1,400 a year better off if the country stays part of the UK.

Suggested ways to spend the cash include: "hop on the bus between Glasgow and Edinburgh (and back) 127 times", "cover your family's yearly shoe habit for about the next 6 years" and "watch Aberdeen play all season with two mates – with a few pies and Bovrils thrown in for good measure".

'Watch Aberdeen play all season with two mates – with a few pies and Bovrils thrown in for good measure'

The press release is understood to have got cross-government approval from the Cabinet Office, Treasury and other departments. A Treasury source said it was "good to communicate with people in different ways" and people should take it in a light-hearted way.

"We'd completely dismiss the idea it's patronising," the source said.

'Share a meal of fish and chips with your family every day for around 10 weeks, with a couple of portions of mushy peas thrown in'

"If the government just communicated with people in dry multi-page documents people would be saying they should do things in a fresh and modern way."

'Hop on the bus between Glasgow and Edinburgh (and back) 127 times'

But the response on Twitter has been disbelieving at first, then brisk, and occasionally unpublishable.

'Scoff 280 hotdogs at the Edinburgh festival'

Kate Shannon, the local government correspondent for Holyrood magazine, tweeted: "If it's NOT a spoof, I'd like to show my displeasure through the medium of Lego, if I had any."

The general tenor of responses is astonishment that the UK government would so badly misjudge the seriousness with which Scots are approaching the referendum debate.

'Pay for Christmas presents twice over, with some money left over to spend on Hogmanay celebrations'

Stewart Kirkpatrick, head of digital at Yes Scotland, said: "For some things only internet slang is appropriate, thus ... *spang* [the sound of hitting yourself in the shovel in a facepalm style]."

'And finally, you’ll still have enough left over for endless hugs with everyone to celebrate being in a United Kingdom'

Ruth Wishart, veteran commentator and prominent yes campaigner, has her own suggestion: "I think everyone in Scotland has a duty to respond to this latest hilarious gimmick with matching intellectual rigour. For instance £1,400 would probably cover the cost of two treasury bean counters being dispatched to Legoland, where they would have the leisure time to have another go at getting their sums right."

On that theme, the Scottish National party treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said: "The Treasury figures have been roundly discredited, so this is just adding insult to injury. This is the kind of patronising attitude to Scotland we have come to expect from the Tory Treasury – presumably the establishment elite think we spend all our time eating fish and chips and pies."

Vonny Moyes, comedy editor of Scottish arts magazine The Skinny, said: "Not only have the UK government dangled a wee battered carrot in front of us, given the shocking numeracy rates of your average chippy-munching Scot, they've kindly explained what £1,400 means in real terms.

"Who needs self-determination when you can drown in hotdogs, or bankroll a cheeky shoe habit? A fairer country sounds nice, but you can't trump a whole season at Pittodrie with a numb arse and a Bovril. That's the life."

The 12th point on the list suggests: "And finally, you'll still have enough left over for endless hugs with everyone to celebrate being in a United Kingdom."

Whether the bright spark who came up with this idea in the first place could expect any hugs in the near future was uncertain at the time of writing.