Tourism chiefs are struggling to market Sydney. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The people that brought you a video which suggested throwing popcorn at your mates while pulling funny faces was the most exciting thing you could do after dark in Sydney have gone one better.

In an effort to show off the many virtues of Sydney’s CBD, reeling from a double whammy of light rail construction and the lockout laws, the state government has raided 2003 for some of it’s most hip, happening and downright groovy ideas.

Yesterday, the city literally did not come to standstill, as — wait for it — there was an actual flash mob.

That’s right. In 2016, in an effort to get people to come back to Sydney’s CBD, the government organised a circa mid 2000s flash mob.

Not unlike the ad spruiking the joys of popcorn and amusement arcades, the flash mob hasn’t gone down well with Sydneysiders bamboozled at how their city is being marketed.

“This is (Premier) Mike Baird’s vision for Sydney. Rubbish,” said Nick Clapham on Transport for NSW’s (TfNSW) Facebook page where the video appeared.

“Yeah this sums up the cultural richness of Sydney in a nutshell,” said another.

TfNSW has defended it’s marketing of Sydney as an attempt to “reactivate” suburbs affected by the $2 billion tram project and highlight to locals and visitors that shops are still open even if the streets are not.

A flash mob — that’ll bring the masses back to Sydney’s CBD.Source:Supplied

The flash mob took place on a thin strip of bitumen opposite the CBD’s Myer department store, the only slice of George St left as excavators lay the light rail tracks.

As tens of people — or possibly 10 people — look on, what appear to be lunchtime punters begin dancing to Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas.

So limited is the space, and so close are some of the performers to the spectators, it’s practically a lap dance.

Just like the previous video, both of which are part of the “Live it up Locally” campaign, you can’t fault the participants’ performances. They are genuinely giving it some welly and walloping out the moves.

The Sydney flash mob occurred on Monday.Source:Supplied

But you do have to question if a dance craze that reached its peak in 2009, when 20,000 people and the Black Eyed Peas serenaded a surprised Oprah Winfrey on a Chicago street, is what’s needed for Sydney eight years later.

After all, it’s been 13 years since the first reported flash mob in New York in 2003 and a full five years since Vice magazine openly asked if the trend was now dead.

But in the quest to prove that you don’t need to have booze to have fun in Sydney, flash mobs and deserted cinemas — according to the city’s marketing chiefs — seem the only viable alternatives.

On Monday, a YouTube video that was part of the same campaign was mocked for being so “cringeworthy” it unintentionally encouraged people to head to Melbourne instead. It has now been watched 250,000 times and attracted more than 1500 comments — most scathing.

Featuring YouTube star Jayden Rodrigues, he and two mates traipse up and down Sydney’s main drag hunting for the “coolest spots”. Seemingly, all they can find is a cinema, theatre, an amusement arcade and a karaoke bar.

The much mocked original video has now been “remade” and it’s not pretty.

The ad has now attracted a not so subtly edited version on Facebook by Dylan Behan cutting in the video with vision of a deathly quiet Kings Cross, the streets deserted and the bars and shops closed.

“I fixed that government video about Sydney’s ‘awesome’ late night night-life options,” he wrote.

Keep Sydney Open is the chief group railing against the city’s restrictive liquor laws. Campaign manager Tyson Koh told news.com.au on Monday that the video was bad government “propaganda” that “savvy” people would see through.

“The video’s portrayal of a night out is abysmally lame. It’s more like a birthday party for an 11-year-old,” he told news.com.au.

“If the government sincerely wants people to enjoy a night out in the city, perhaps they should remove the curfew which sends the opposite message”.

Matt Barrie, whose LinkedIn rant against the lockouts went viral earlier in the year, was equally underwhelmed at the video.

“This video is cringeworthy, the NSW Government couldn’t even afford extras to make the streets or venues look busy in this dystopian PG-13 view,” he said.

“So this is what a night out in a retirement village looks like,” wrote Jake Edwards on Facebook.

A spokeswoman for TfNSW said the video was not produced to promote all of Sydney but the part of the CBD around George St and Haymarket currently saddled with tram construction works.

“The Live it Up Locally videos promote a range of businesses and suggested activities along the light rail alignment to attract visitors to the area during construction,” she said.

The transport body has not replied to news.com.au’s questions on why it thought a flash mob was the perfect vehicle to entertain shoppers in Sydney.