Awkward: Greece borrows Australian scenery for new tourism ad

Quick: what’s the best way to show off the natural beauty of your country in a tourist video? If your answer doesn’t include using footage from another country on the opposite side of the planet, congratulations, you’re doing better than the Greek Tourism Board.

A new 10 minute video from the organisation rather bizarrely includes footage from Australian natural landmark The 12 Apostles.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian astro-photographer Alex Cherney was alerted to the fact that footage from his time-lapse film Ocean Sky had been spliced into the Greek video days after it was launched.

Somewhat bizarrely the Greek Tourism Board claims that the footage was used deliberately and that some of the stars shown have Greek names.

Read more: Microsoft’s LMFAO parody to promote the Surface Pro 3 is super awkward

“When the day is done, the moon and the stars paint the sky in brilliant constellations named from Greek mythology by ancient sailors navigating their way from island to island across the broad sea,” the narrator says as the footage plays.

In a statement defending the video, the Greek body says: “That almost all the world, wherever you turn around your eyes, you will meet an idea, a name, that originated from Greece. Even the skies of Australia in the southern hemisphere, explains the artistic creator, when lift your eyes open, you will see stars and constellations that carry Greek names. The mythology of the sky at all latitudes and longitudes of the Earth is Greek.”

Cherney remains unconvinced:

“The fact that they’re showing the Twelve Apostles in a tourism video for Visit Greece is somewhat, you would say, preposterous,” he said.

This is not the first time the video has caused controversy either. It had to be edited after its first release, when it was found to have used footage from the 1936 Berlin Olympics shot by documentary maker Leni Riefenstahl, who was favoured by Hitler.