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FIAT'S USE OF HAKA IN CAR AD LABELLED CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE(New Zealand Press Association Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) (Pix available on www.nzpaimages.co.nz) Wellington, July 3 NZPA - A television commercial using the haka to advertise a new Fiat car has gone to air in Italy, despite New Zealand diplomats warning its producers it is culturally insensitive. The ad -- created by the Turin office of international advertising agency Leo Burnett -- features a group of black-clad women performing Ka Mate, the haka written by Ngati Toa chief Te Rauparaha and made world-famous by the All Blacks. The women are filmed in a city street beside a black model Fiat Idea, mimicking Ka Mate's words and actions. A crowd noise is played in the background -- replicating the atmosphere of a New Zealand rugby test match. Then as one of the women drives off in the car, the ad ends with a boy sitting in the back poking out his tongue. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokesman Brad Tattersfield said the ministry became aware in April through the Milan office of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) that an advertising company was planning to use the haka. ``At the time we advised the advertising company that the use of Ka Mate in this way was culturally insensitive and inappropriate,'' he told NZPA today. The Ministry of Culture and Heritage and Te Toi Aotearoa, which promotes and protects Maori art and culture, were also consulted about the ad. Mr Tattersfield said MFAT advised the advertisers to either use a Maori group or a haka composed for women. ``However, the advertising company indicated they were proceeding despite this advice.'' Te Toi Aotearoa recommended that New Zealand officials in Italy help address concerns about the ad by consulting Gisborne-based artist Derek Lardelli, who penned the All Blacks' new haka Kapo O Pango and has Italian ancestry. Te Toi Aotearoa general manager Garry Nicholas said it was hoped that Mr Lardelli might find a ``way through so the ad was not offensive''. After viewing a video clip of the ad today on Fiat's website, Mr Nicholas said he had mixed feelings about it. ``This isn't a haka in my view but is certainly based on haka,'' he said. ``It's meant to be in fun and the little boy poking his tongue at the end of the clip makes that very clear. ``I don't have any real problem with that. We are now on the world stage and the All Blacks have taken us there.'' But Mr Nicholas said the Italians were taking an ``imperialist attitude'' that they did not have to answer to anyone in the world of fashion. ``It's an Old World attitude and we're just seen as tribal people.'' Mr Nicholas said his main concern initially had been that the advertisers were planning to use ``scantily clad'' women to do the haka. Fiat is the latest international corporation to commercially exploit Maori images or culture. But the Fiat ad appears to be in better taste than a short-lived whisky ad made for Belgian television, featuring a rugby team doing a haka in front of a line of bare-chested Scotsmen lifting their kilts in response. New Zealand's ambassador to Brussels lodged an official complaint against that ad. In April, tobacco giant Philip Morris apologised to Maori during a shareholders meeting in the United States for using Maori images on cigarette packets in Israel and over five years ago Danish toy company Lego copyrighted Maori words for marketing a new range of toys. NZPA WGT nb cm kk |