With Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Rhys Darby has launched a new campaign to put New Zealand on the map – literally.

The comic fronts a new advertising campaign with prime minister Jacinda Ardern, designed to boost tourism.

And it takes as its lead the fact that the nation is often 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 says on the video.

New Zealand's absence from world maps has become something of an internet obsession, with The Smithsonian Natural History Museum, a Spanish in-flight magazine and Starbucks omitting it from their artwork.

Even the Kiwi government's official website shows the nation missing if users navigate to a non-existent page, generating a so-called 404 error.

In the film Darby also accuses England, Australia and France of conspiring to wipe the nation of the map.

Published: 2 May 2018