'Problem solved': Humorous image fixes Tourism NZ error

"Problem solved. Totally legit manoeuvre." Photo / Supplied via Imgur

A Tourism NZ promotional video showing a campervan driving on the wrong side of the road has been fixed - but only in a mocking image.

The video, by American online videographer Devin Graham, was pulled from YouTube yesterday as Tourism NZ scrambled to correct the error.

In response to the controversy, a humorous photoshopped image of the video has emerged.

It shows the campervan indicating to overtake another vehicle - the police crime-fighting tractor, which was derided as "bizarre" when it first entered the police fleet.

The image's caption reads: "Problem solved. Totally legit manoeuvre."

Yesterday, Tourism NZ corporate affairs general manager Deborah Gray said the future of the video was up in the air after it was finally removed from YouTube.

Tourism NZ had only had email conversations with the video's maker, who is more commonly known as Devin Super Tramp, and wanted to chat over the phone before confirming whether it would stay online.

"Because it's Sunday night there we will seek to have a conversation about whether it's a re-post or whether it's essentially pulled tomorrow."

The campervan had been driving on the correct side of the road at the time of filming, but the videomaker inverted the image so it appears to be driving on the wrong side of the road.

Meanwhile, road safety advocate Clive Matthew-Wilson is angry the video was deliberately made to show the campervan driving down the wrong side of the road.

"The credits at the end of the video make it clear this portrayal of a campervan driving down the wrong side of the road was deliberate. This appears to be have been done to make foreigners feel more comfortable with driving a vehicle in New Zealand.

"Not only is it grossly irresponsible for Tourism New Zealand to imply that overseas tourists will be able to continue to drive the way they do at home, but it's clear that this portrayal was deliberate, not a mistake, as Tourism New Zealand has claimed.

"Tourists driving down the wrong side of the road kill ordinary New Zealanders. To promote this driving in a promotional video is just awful. The fact that Tourism New Zealand would allow this footage to be shown is breathtakingly reckless."