The basement of the hell of Canada and a shop in Wellington think the word “huruhuru” “pen” – they were wrong
A Canadian brewery and a leather shop in New Zealand found themselves on a furry stage after Maori unknowingly called you their respective brands after pubic hair. The Canadian brewery Hell’s Basement called its New Zealand Pale Ale Huruhuru, while a store in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, gave its call to its entire establishment. “Some other people call it appreciation, I call it appropriation,” said Te Hamua Nikora, a Maori exhibitor of reo and television personality, on Facebook, after explaining that the maximum Maori would use the word “Huruhuru” in reference to pubic hair.
Nikora said he contacted the brewery and to inform them of his mistake.
“If you sell leather, call it leather, don’t call it pubic hair unless you sell pubic hair and don’t call it ‘pubic beer hair’ unless you do it with pubic hair.”
He asked non-Maori to use their own language to advertise their products.
Hell’s Basement co-founder Mike Patriquin stated in a message to the RNZ news site that the company believed huruhuru meant “pen” and did not realize it was a reference to pubic hair.
“We have learned the possibility of offending through our artistic interpretation, and given the answer, we will try to do better in the future,” Patriquin said.
He stated that the company did not intend to violate, adapt or offend Maori culture or others in any way.
“To those who do not feel respected, we apologize. We also don’t think pubic hair is embarrassing, we admit it doesn’t happen well with beer.
A spokesman for the Wellington Huruhuru leather shop also said they had to offend their store’s call, as they also intended to represent wool, feathers or furs.
Aynur Karakoc said the company had received approval on behalf of the Maori Advisory Committee of the Intellectual Property Office. However, they may simply not replace their names.
Two years ago, Coca-Cola’s attempts to mix Maori and English backfired when the company inadvertently wrote “Hello, Death” on a New Zealand sale device filled with drink. The device adorned with the words “Kia pray, Mate”, which translates as “Hello, Death”.