Days after the council pulled a video showing people playing touch rugby near a sea lion, concerns have been raised about another showing a family cooking over a open fire on a Dunedin beach in apparent breach of council bylaws.
However, the council said the film crew had a permit and the video used "small touches of creative licence" to promote Dunedin’s "magic".
Dunedin resident Karen Anderson contacted the Otago Daily Times with concerns the video, shot at Doctors Point, promoted "bad behaviour" on beaches and reserves.
Dunedin City Council bylaws ban unauthorised fires, apart from gas fires and self-contained cooking devices, from Dunedin reserves and beaches.
"Obviously, that is not explained in the advertising, which presents it as a family-friendly activity anyone can do, whenever they choose," Ms Anderson said.
"Surely the [council] is able to evaluate its own advertising without requiring the public to go through it frame by frame."
She said the two videos could give visitors the wrong impression of acceptable behaviour in Dunedin.
Ms Anderson was also concerned the sea lion video was still available on the marketing agency Shotover Creative’s website.
"A private company was paid public money to make videos that cannot be used," she said.
"But the failure to require Shotover Creative to remove the advertising from its private pages means it is now being permitted to use those ratepayer-funded videos for its private business gain."
Enterprise Dunedin destination manager Sian Sutton said the marketing campaign aimed to convey the "magic" of Dunedin’s visitor experience.
"[It] uses small touches of creative licence to capture people’s attention in what is a cluttered global destination marketing landscape," she said.
"The open fire was authorised for creative purposes in advance via the film permit process, and the footage of the sea lion was shot in accordance with the Dunedin Wildlife Care Code while working with the Department of Conservation and local wildlife experts."
She was not concerned the material remained on Shotover Creative’s website as the images and videos were intended to "showcase their portfolio of work, not to promote the city".
Shotover Creative managing director James Perry declined to comment on the Doctors Point video but said the company had "categorically" done its due diligence on the campaign.
"That particular issue that’s being looked at at the moment certainly doesn’t have anything to do with the due diligence carried out by the production company."
Asked how he was feeling about the initial reaction to some of the videos and ads, he said: "I think it's kind of 50-50 isn't it, by the looks of it."
"I think the press around it has been a little bit unfortunate — it’s focused on some negative comments rather than what I think is a real good news story, which is that huge swathes of people have committed their time and their emotional investment into doing something fantastic for the city."
He said destinations were more challenging to market than products but he was confident the new campaign would be effective.
In March, the council removed the tagline "It’s just Dunedin" from the campaign, citing public perceptions of negativity and to encourage campaign longevity.
