Australia’s press is full of articles on the Greek National Tourism Organization’s video campaign titled “Greeks, Myths, Heroes”. “The Greeks consider themselves the founders of democracy and mathematics. Now they’ve taken credit for one of Australia’s most recognizable landmarks, the Twelve Apostles,” writes the Sydney Morning Herald.
“If you want to see the wonders of Greece, go to Australia’s Great Ocean Road,” says TNT Magazine, whereas TN Global Travel Industry News wrote an article titled “The Twelve Apostles – stolen by the Greek Tourism Board?”
Channel 9 refers to Australian director Alex Cherney’s footage that is used in the video. Mr. Cherney contacted the direct of the video about the copyright infringement. The Tourism Ministry has since acquired a licence for the footage.
“My video has been seen nearly 2 million times online since 2011, has won some awards and been featured as NASA’s astronomy picture of the day, so that’s probably why it was recognized,” Mr. Cherney told The Age. “The fact that they’re showing the TWelve Apostles in a tourism video for Visit Greece is somewhat, you would say, preposterous.”
The time-lapse footage of the night sky moving over the Twelve Apostles is used to depict the birthplace of the ancient Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. The narrator says:
“Where Aphrodite, goddess of love, lust and kindness emerges from waves… And when the day is done, the moon and the stars paint the sky in brilliant constellations named from Greek mythology by ancient sailors navigating their way from island to island across the broad sea. As I travelled through the Greek countryside…”
In its own farcical defense the NGTO released a statement that said: “That almost all the world, wherever you turn your eyes, you will meet an idea, a name, that originated from Greece. Even the skies of Australia in the southern hemisphere, explains the artistic creator, when you lift your eyes open, you will see stars and constellations that carry Greek names. The mythology of the sky at all latitudes and longitudes of the Earth is Greek.”
Mr. Cherney was unimpressed by the explanation, though he told the ABC that he spent more time “laughing about it than being serious.”
“I think there are enough beautiful places along the Aegean sea in Greece, they don’t really need another one,” he said.
This isn’t the first scandal associated with this 12-minute long video. Apart from its slow pace and the fact that it has little to do with modern Greece and opening shot of New York, the video has also used Nazi film footage from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and also had other copyright infringements.
