A Canadian brewery has apologised for its “artistic interpretation” of a Māori word in the naming of one of its beers.
Hell’s Basement called its New Zealand Pale Ale “Huruhuru”, believing it to mean “feather”, when in fact it is more commonly used to mean “pubic hair”.
New Zealand TV presenter Te Hamua Nikora called out the brewery over the slip-up, writing on Facebook: “Some people call it appreciation, I call it appropriation.
“Don’t call beer pubic hair unless you make it with pubic hair,” he added.
Mr Nikora called on non-Māori businesses to use their own language in promoting their products, unless motivated by a wish to support the native community.
“The easiest thing to do is to think, ‘is this MY language? Am I wanting to do this for more than just a great way to make my business look good? Am I willing to give back somehow to the Māori community?’,” he asked in a Facebook post.
“If the answer is NO, then you don’t get to have a Māori business name. Why should you?”
Hell’s Basement co-founder, Mike Patriquin, admitted that the word had got lost in translation, after Mr Nikora informed him of Huruhuru’s true meaning.
He told news site RNZ: “We did not realise the potential to offend through our artistic interpretation, and given the response we will attempt to do better in the future.”
Mr Patriquin said the company had never intended to appropriate or offend the Māori people in any way.
“To those who feel disrespected, we apologise,” he said.
“We also do not think pubic hair is shameful, though we admit it may not go well with beer.”
