As with any new technology there are positives and often more negatives for Māori and other Indigenous Peoples protecting their traditional knowledge from abuse, appropriation and theft. In the short time that Non Fungible Tokens have been created, traded and advertised online there is a large amount of cultural appropriation and stolen images being transformed…

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These high level guidelines have been written by Karaitiana Taiuru who has been involved with Māori Cultural rights, Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge and assisting brands both in New Zealand and internationally for over 25 years. Last updated January 10 2021. The motivation to write this document is to provide an introduction to Māori cultural appropriation…

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I have been calling out and educating perpetrators of cultural appropriation for decades. Of the hundreds of responses and abuse mocking me, there is a common theme as follows: As a Maori/Indigenous Person (etc) you wear European clothes, a European watch, use a computer that your people didn’t use to have, drive a car which…

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This article discusses the inappropriate and satirical usage of Māori religious icons and racial stereotypes of Māori in the Tasti bar advert that TVNZ recently played on air. The advert is also online here.   UPDATE: Tasti apologise and state they will remove the advert. Their media statement here.     The advert promotes racism…

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Cultural appropriation of taonga Māori online is continually increasing despite the backlash on social media and in the media (mainstream and Māori). Just recently one art shop in Nelson who continued to offer offensive culturally appropriated art, despite apologising to the local Iwi, was forced to shut down. This post provides a number of suggestions…

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I was recently interviewed about Cultural Appropriation for an AUT Bachelor of Communication Studies paper about Intercultural Communication. The first part of the interview was via email, then video. I feel that this information may be useful to others, so I am publishing it. 1: Karaitiana, you have spent many years challenging the use of inappropriate…

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Stuff wrote a story today about the UK brewer Butcombe producing a Pale Ale called “Haka” featuring a silver or white fern. I did accuse Butcombe of cultural appropriation earlier in 2017 of their Haka branded pale ale. They were among 7 other UK brewers I contacted.  In contrast to the other UK brewers whom…

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As a descendant of Tūwharetoa, I have no idea if my whakapapa is being offered for sale on TradeMe, just like any other descendant of Tūwharetoa wouldn’t. I agree that the whakapapa is personal property, but not of one individual selling it, but to the whānau, hapū and Iwi that the whakapapa is about. New…

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New Zealand businesses continue cultural appropriation of Māori culture in their marketing. I believe that cultural appropriation of Māori has become normalised over multiple generations by New Zealand businesses. We cannot directly blame the businesses, but we need to learn from these experiences and deploy better protection mechanisms and new partnerships to stop appropriation. Firstly,…

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BP New Zealand appears to have used Māori culture without consultation, offering Fair Trade coffee that will help you to become more fertile by placing the Polynesian recognised deity of fertility Tiki in the corner of it marketing material. Moreover, the Tiki used in the marketing appears to be a West coast of the North Island…

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Belgium Beer brewer Brussels Beer Project removed their offensive beer label within hours of the New Zealand media publishing concerns at the cultural appropriation. This is now the 5th craft brewer this year that has removed offensive beer labels after my complaints. This case differs from the others. In this instance the New Zealand media…

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28 hours after writing a public tweet (DM UK media) and a detailed article on my web site accusing UK brewery Rammy Craft of ignoring correspondence regarding culturally offensive beer label, they reply with an explanation and apology. The email reply is copied in full is below. It is frustrating that it took 7 weeks, seeking…

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Rammy Craft Ales, a UK brewer producer of the beer labeled Flaori Maori have ignored several communications over the past 7 weeks that their beer label is likely to be offensive to Maori. This is the fourth UK brewery I have approached this year, and the only brewery who has not communicated and or rectified…

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A third UK brewery in the past few months has removed offensive to Māori beer labels and apologised after being made aware of the fact. As with the other two cases to date, I used the same letter I originally wrote and modified the names to suit the company and the beer brand. As in…

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I was approached by whanau in the UK about the Whakatu beer logo (see below). I was asked if I could/would do anything as I have has some success in the past with such cultural appropriation. After looking at Exmoor marketing document, I agreed. The following images are from the web, not the marketing document.…

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A craft brewery in a small town in England, branded a small batch of their beer NZ Pale Ale with an image that is likely to be offensive to a large population of Māori. Within hours of raising the issue with the Managing Director, the company apologized and removed all of the material from their…

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After writing my story about Huggies New Zealand (owned by international company Kimberly-Clark Corporation) and their incorrect and offensive baby names advise on their web site, I contacted Radio Waatea who very professionally and neutrally interviewed me on the topic on March 08 . I too was cautious with my wording on this very serious matter.…

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HuggiesNZ a trusted brand for new parents is an example of a corporation discriminating against Māori with little or no disregard to the long term implications for individuals, cultures and laws. Their advice, if followed, could cause irreversible damage to children and parents. Huggies respond here. Prior to December 29 2008, or over 10 years prior to…

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The early years of .nz Internet domain names saw Māori and Iwi marginalized and ignored, Māori domain names held to ransom and Iwi dictated to about their online representation. This is important to remember as a domain name is the digital equivalent of a pepeha, tā moko or whakapapa for online Māori. The consequence of…

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Emotiki contains a number of culturally unsafe issues: the satirical use of a Polynesian deity Tiki, Tame Iti and the use of his face and tā moko without permission (only in release 1, despite their denial to Te Kaea Maori Television, here is a live link to the web archive), several other possible ethical and tikanga issues…

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New Zealand is made up of numerous colonial place and street names, as are organisations and brands. Likewise, there are many place, street, educational institutions and government organisations with Māori names. A Massey academic is suggesting a name change for Massey University – Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa as his research has revealed that its namesake was racist against…

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The media article on the blunder of using Google translate by a mayoral candidate created lots of social media discussions that focused only on the tool and its te reo Māori issues and not the subtle racism in the story.   In summary: Hamilton mayoral candidate James Casson wanted to appeal to Māori voters and thought…

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Labeled as a Maui Costume for Kids based on the Disney movie Moana. The costumes are made to look like brown skin with Polynesian tattoos. UPDATED Disney pulls Maui costume 22/09/207  There are a number of issues for Polynesian cultures and for Māori special considerations will need to be considered around the Ta Moko (tattoo) as each ta mako is…

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