Destination Wollongong has eaten humble pie after pressing play on its new ad featuring mountain biking - many months too soon.
The new "Press Play" tourism campaign pitches Wollongong as an adventure and outdoors destination, and was posted on social media on Friday.
But one of the video ads promoted mountain biking on Mt Keira - which while popular, is not legal. Trails there are subject to development of the escarpment mountain biking strategy, which is many months away.
Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council executive officer Paul Knight blasted the Destination Wollongong (DW) executive.
"This realistically has nothing to do with mountain biking per se - it has to do with the governance of Destination Wollongong," he said. "There's no outcome as to whether legalised mountain biking is going to occur on Mt Keira.
"It does raise concerns - have they jumped the gun on this because there is a predetermined outcome?
Have they jumped the gun on this because there is a predetermined outcome?
- Paul Knight, ILALC
"If that's so, is this whole consultation currently being undertaken a farce? If you're looking at this from a neutral position, you've got to question whether that is the case."
DW general manager Mark Sleigh declined to answer questions about what effect this would have on the consultation process over Mr Keira, and who was taking responsibility.
He sent a statement which said there was "an oversight" while editing "a suite of digital assets".
"Destination Wollongong respects the ongoing process relating to the Illawarra escarpment mountain bike strategy and looks forward to working with all parties to reach a sensible resolution," he said.
Instead, DW board member and Wollongong City Councillopr Tania Brown was available for interview.
"I understand the [NSW] government is bringing together a working party so I hope, I think, all members of the working party will go into it with the right mindset of truly collaborating to get an outcome that suits our region," Cr Brown said.
"This was three seconds of footage in a much broader campaign, so I think it's regrettable that it's been perceived so negatively, but it was three seconds and it was taken down when it was brought to the executive's attention."
The series of videos each feature fun times on the coast of Wollongong, set to the tune of Olive James's 2017 hit I Like You. The videos each emphasise a different aspect - there's one for foodies, one for families, one for self-driving, another for arts and culture, and so on.