Fiat make headlines with a Haka - New Zealand offended?
Fiat featuring on the TV evening news is not exactly an everyday event in New Zealand. The Fiat Idea Haka advertisement made the news as apparently we are “offended” and “angered” by it.
It features women filmed in a city street beside a Fiat Idea mimicking a haka’s, Ka Mate, words and actions. Crowd noise is played in the background - as if in a stadium – & the ad ends with a boy sitting in the back of the car poking out his tongue mimicking his mother.
Watch the Fiat Idea Haka Advert
(Once at their page click on the car image to launch the player)
I thought it was rather harmless, even cute, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade advised Fiat it was “culturally insensitive”. There's a term I find offensive. A valid complaint is that the haka chosen, "adulterated version of Ka Mate", was not written for women to perform and Fiat could have commissioned one for the advert.
I was amazed to hear All Black coach Graham Henry expressing disappointment the haka had been used for “commercial purposes”. If the All Black marketing machine isn’t commercial what is? Their own website states the “The haka adds a unique component, derived from the indigenous Maori of New Zealand”. So is it not part of the “All Black brand”?
Having said that, I haven’t heard the outrage other than from those quoted in the media. Offended or not, it won’t damage the sales of the Fiat Idea in New Zealand – it’s not available here!
The Fiat Haka Advert in the news:
