Video shows the prime minister and NZ comedian Rhys Darby questioning why the nation has been omitted from so many maps

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

New Zealand is aiming to crack the mystery of why it is often left off world maps, as part of a new tourism campaign featuring prime minister Jacinda Ardern.

The #getnzonthemap campaign features Ardern and Flight of the Conchords comedian Rhys Darby in a two-minute video exploring why the nation is continually left off maps of the globe.

“We’re a bit of a fiddly looking shaped country, a bit like a half-eaten lamb chop. Perhaps people are just leaving us off, thinking we’re a mistake?” Darby tells Ardern in the video.

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Despite the global popularity of the country’s prime minister and the country’s long association with hobbits and Middle Earth, the video shows the nation repeatedly been left off maps, including at The Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Central Park Zoo, Starbucks and Ikea.

In the video, Darby jokingly refers to Ardern as “your majesty”, “your highness”, “Cindy”, and “my lady” and explores the notion that there’s a “big conspiracy going on” to obscure the island nation.

New Zealand is located in the South west Pacific ocean, 2,000km from Sydney, 2,000km from Antarctica and home to 4.7 million people.

A reddit thread dedicated to recording incidents where New Zealand is left off global maps has nearly 30,000 subscribers, and last year the BBC vox-popped Londoners asking if they could identify which country was missing.

Very few were able to spot New Zealand’s absence.