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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