‘Hello, death’: Coca-Cola greets New Zealanders in marketing blunder
21
October, 2018
One
of Coca-Cola's marketing slogans in New Zealand did not go over well,
turning into a humorous and embarrassing blunder for the company.
The
beverage firm ran a vending machine signage that read "Kia
ora, mate." The
slogan was an attempt to mix a greeting from the island’s
indigenous peoples’ language, te reo Maori, with English.
While
in English, the word ‘mate’ is commonly used to refer to friends,
it has a very different meaning in Maori. The slogan essentially
read, "Greetings,
death."
Online
critics have noted the irony of Coca-Cola’s mistake, with one
Twitter user claiming that Coca-Cola may have gained
some “self-awareness,” and
another one commenting “Finally,
truth in advertising.”
Coca-Cola’s
spokesperson told Maori Television that the phrase was only “meant
to bring Maori and English together,” and “was in no
way being disrespectful to any culture.”
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