Air New Zealand faces backlash over ‘cultural appropriation’ after trying to trademark Maori greeting
- Maori Council said it would take the airline to court if it goes ahead with the trademark move, and called the application ‘an insult to New Zealanders’
- Air New Zealand said the trademark application was about protecting the company’s logo, and they had ‘huge respect’ for the Maori language
The airline applied in May to trademark the image showing the greeting, which is also the name of its in-flight magazine.
The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, told TVNZ the airline was seeking to protect only the “particular stylised forms” of the greeting, rather than the greeting itself, but Indigenous groups said the words belonged to them, and that the trademark application was a cynical business move.
The Maori Council has said it would take the airline to court if it goes ahead with the trademark move, and called the application “hare-brained” and “an insult to New Zealanders”.
It is Maori language week in New Zealand and the council’s executive director Matthew Tukaki said Maori people and businesses would boycott the company if the trademark application went ahead.
“Let’s be really clear here. This is an insult pure and simple,” Tukaki said in a statement. “I am sick and tired of cultural appropriation and in fact all Maori are – our language is a national treasure for all of us and we need to respect it. It’s not here for business to use it and profit from it as they see fit.”
“My suggestion is stick to your core business because you sure as hell don’t get to trademark Maori words.”