Te Kete o Karaitiana Taiuru (Blog)

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 the situation.

Update to this story

Rammy Craft Ales UK brewery, you are culturally offensive and racist.

The beer label has a Māori design in the background which is a ta moko taken from somebody’s face. Other than the fact that this is likely a copyright or Intellectual Property theft used for commercial gain, it is offensive to have the head or parts of it associated with food and drink.

Other aspects to note is that Rammy Crafts have:

1. Exploited Māori culture by using the koru pattern as a dominant feature of their label
2. Mocked the word Māori by rhyming it with Flaori. It is unclear what Flaori Maori is intended to mean other than a mocking.

To date I have attempted at least two public methods of communication since April 28 2018.

On April 28 2018 I wrote to Rammy Craft Ales (letter below)

June 09 2018 I sent a tweet mentioning Rammy Craft Ales and SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers UK. Neither organisation bothered to reply or seek more information.

April 28 2018 email:

I am writing to inform you that your beer label Fala Maori is offensive and racist. I am seeking your co operation to remove it.
In previous months, three other UK craft brewers (Camerons Brewery Limited, ExmoorAles and Electrik Bear UK) have apologized and ceased production of offensive beer labels. I hope you all see the international attention and benefits to be culturally aware will be for your company.

The Flaori Maori image being complained about is likely to be offensive to a large population of Māori and is at the very least cultural appropriation by using the Māori culture in a manner that is offensive for commercial gains. Personally, I deem it racist as do many others I know.

How do you justify using someone’s else’s culture without any knowledge of what it is or with no regard or benefit to that culture?

Cultural appropriation and inappropriate usage of Indigenous culture was once common in an uneducated world. Since then, there has been more consideration and the practices have largely stopped. There is an abundance of media related articles and literature written by indigenous people demonstrating that these kinds of images are offensive and unacceptable.
The image in the background depicts a tattooed Māori face called a Tā Moko. Tā Moko is a graphical story of an individuals genealogy and their personal achievements. The image you have used is of a senior Māori male warrior who is well respected, most likely a chief. It is offensive using another person tā moko as it appears is the case with the image in question. It is also offensive to have tā moko and alcohol associated with each other. It is not clear at this stage if you have breached copyright and taken the tā moko from the Internet. If you have, that would cause further distress to the owner, whose personal story is in the tā moko.

It is offensive in the Maori culture for food and beverages to be associated with the head. By doing so, the person is demeaned and cursed and the food or beverage is no longer able to be consumed.

If you were in New Zealand and produced the label, it would likely be the cause for a number of complaints to the Human Rights Commission for being offensive based on culture.
Likewise, if you applied for a TradeMark it would likely be deemed offensive to Maori under the TradeMarks Act by the Māori advisory council of which I am a member, for several reasons including Tapu/Noa (sacred versus non sacred) principle as the head is on a beverage and mocking of the Māori culture.

Also in recent months, other international organisaitons have apologized for cultural appropriation including: National Geographic have apologized to the world for their racist profiling of Indigenous and minority cultures that spanned decades https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/13/national-geographic-confronts-its-past-for-decades-our-coverage-was-racist/?utm_term=.e4a1e2530a5b.

A commercial conglomerate Kimberly-Clark Corporation who own the brand Huggies, a trusted New Zealand name for baby nappies removed a number of pages from their web site that contained inappropriate and offensive Māori baby names and advice. https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/352585/huggies-removes-offensive-list-of-maori-baby-names

In the New Zealand the Hokitika food festival removed a photo of a lady culturally appropriating Naïve American and First Nations headgear. https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018637521/public-outrage-at-wildfoods-festival-s-advertising

I am more than happy to discuss this more with you.

ENDS

The days of such blatant cultural ignorance and racism in local and international markets has been identified as not being appropriate and should stop. Despite this, Rammy Craft Ale appear to not care, instead imposing their perceived cultural superiority upon the global audience.

I hope that UK consumers will express their concerns with their wallets and voices and boycott the products from this racist company.