The Bay's tourism boss says New Zealand's unique point of difference should not be condensed down to sheep in paddocks and disrespectful images of a Maori haka.
Tourism Bay of Plenty chairman Paul Bowker has supported criticism of how the country was portrayed in filming for the TV show, America's Next Top Model.
A report obtained by the New Zealand Herald showed the country's tourism agency was unimpressed with the final edited version of the 2010 show, saying too much imagery featured rural landscapes with sheep.
Tourism New Zealand was also disappointed with undesirable imagery in which the contestants had to strike a pose with a sheep. The young women also affected a range of facial expressions when greeted by a haka.
"Next time we will have a blacklist of banned imagery written into the contract so we will have tighter control." Tourism New Zealand's internal report said.