Rocket, the fox-hunting origin of red herring sounded odd to me (raised in rural hunting territory), and certainly Michael Quinion appears to have debunked it: http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/herring.htm

Regarding the original question, I presume the intended audience is fluent speakers of English, otherwise such idioms might only serve to confuse. Anyway, I don't see how will-o'-the-wisp fits the bill (a mysteriously floating glowing thing, that will only be a red herring if you try to follow it). False lead may be boring, I think it fits the bill better and is more appropriate for the context. But that's merely my opinion.

porsche, regarding "orientate", in England, it is not even "controversial"; it's probably the norm, and is certainly, as Vatta says, utterly unremarkable. Your sidewalk has a curb and my pavement has a kerb; each is correct in one country and odd in the other.