Open in app

Sign in

Write

Sign in

The Commodification of the Haka

Tegwyn McCormack
7 min readMay 7, 2023

--

The cultural Maori dance performance known as the haka is still widely performed today. So much so, that it has become a key aspect of New Zealand’s national identity. However, with the rampant increase in consumer culture, the sacred haka has become subject to commodification.

While there are many different types of hakas, the haka was made known to the world by New Zealand’s national rugby team, the All Blacks. The Ka Mate haka has been performed by the All Blacks since 1905 before all their matches following both teams’ country’s national anthems (Hokowhitu & Jackson, 2002.). The haka is traditionally performed when one party meets another, and represents a tribe’s “pride, strength and unity” (100% Pure New Zealand, n.d.). The traditional dances are also performed at weddings, sports matches, and schools. Most schools across New Zealand give their student the option to learn and perform the haka. All people are welcome to learn the haka, as long as the cultural dances are respected, and partakers understand the meaning behind the actions. The All Blacks performing the haka has given Maori a global exposure of their culture and it has become essential for expressing New Zealand’s cultural identity at rugby games.

Billie Eilish being welcomed with a haka.

Today, the haka is also performed to welcome special guests to New Zealand. The Hātea Kapa Haka group has performed for big-name celebrities such as Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish and Lewis Capaldi to welcome them as they land in New Zealand. The haka is also routinely

performed when members of the royal family visit New Zealand. This contributes to globalising the haka via celebrities sharing the performance online but also helps to identify New Zealand with the haka.

The performance of the haka at sporting events has become globally recognised as a symbol of New Zealand’s national identity. The haka is protected by Maori and New Zealanders, such as when the haka is used inappropriately in advertising. The haka has become so normalised for New Zealanders, that it would be very odd if the All Blacks did not perform before their match, or if a school did not offer Kapa Haka. This relates to Billig’s (1995) concept of ‘banal nationalism’, which means that some symbols of nationalism are so conventional that they go unnoticed, such as a country’s flag on their buildings. The haka performed before the All-Black’s match is anticipated and regularly experienced. The haka has also become a tool to promote New Zealand and the All Blacks overseas, being that the haka is recognised on an international level, more so than other national symbols of New Zealand that are very recognisable to New Zealanders but not internationally, such as the gumboot. The haka is just as symbolic of New Zealand to the rest of the world as the iconic Kiwi bird or the silver fern. However, this has the potential to diminish the representation of the cultural significance of the haka to Maori in New Zealand. An example is other sports teams seeing the haka and wanting to replicate it. In May 2021, the Walter Sisulu University rugby team in South Africa received backlash for performing the haka, and New Zealand Rugby requested that they stop (1News, 2021). The captain spoke in defense of the team, that while many were accusing the team of appropriation, they would do the haka in admiration of the All Blacks. The captain stated, “We’re doing it in a respectful manner and trying to bring confidence to our players… we can’t play without it; it’s part of our team culture, even though we adopted it from New Zealand” (1News, 2021). However, upon New Zealand Rugby’s request, the university team no longer performs the haka.

To some New Zealanders, the early years of the All Blacks doing the haka was perceived as more of a skit, while today it is taken more seriously (Godfery, 2020). To some the haka is more sacred and should strictly be performed only by Maori. Godfery (2020) discusses people’s distaste towards stars such as Dwayne Johnson and Jason Momoa, who are Polynesian rather than Maori, doing the haka on the red carpet. Others say that it is acceptable for anyone to do the haka, as long as its integrity is maintained. Some perceive the haka as a way to release anger and intimidate opponents. An example of this is in television portrayals of Maori, where discussions of violence often utilise shots of people doing the haka (Barnes, Borell, Gregory, McCreanor, & Nairn, 2012). While there are types of hakas that may be to communicate aggression, there are all sorts of different hakas such as those that welcome others. The haka is also often understood to be only for men, but there are many hakas that are performed only by men, only by women, and by a mix of both.

The haka provides a sense of patriotism, being that people identify the haka as an important ritual to New Zealand and being a part of the haka means to take pride in their country. A patriot can be defined as a person who has the need to belong to a group that openly celebrates their country’s merits and be a part of making history (Primoratz, 2020). The haka unifies groups of people that are passionate about New Zealand and their culture. In the wake of the Christchurch Mosque shooting, all over the country the haka was performed to commemorate the victims (BBC News, 2019). The haka performed was called Haka Koiora, which translates to ‘Haka for life’. A key verse in this haka is ‘Ko au, Ko koe, ko au, ko taua e’, which translates to ‘I am you, you are me, this is us’. A key phrase used in during this time was ‘they are us’, to express the unity and alliance with New Zealand’s Muslim community. The haka performed sent a specific message of this and tapped into the country’s spiritual response to the tragedy. In this way, the haka unified people all over New Zealand and conveyed an important message of having compassion and ridding racism.

The haka is no stranger to being used in advertising, and more often than not, it is in an appropriative manner. Here you will see some examples of just a few headlines from articles about the controversy around the haka being used in advertising. When the haka and Māori culture is being exploited to sell a product, whether or not it is performed well, it is disrespectful. Every haka’s meaning should be respected and valued. However, a very blatant commodification of the haka and Māori culture to sell a product is by British carpet brand, Invictus.

Earlier this year the company was slammed for using Māori imagery, including a man doing the haka, in their branding and advertising. This has not phased Invictus, with this imagery still being used today. The use of the imagery of a strong man doing the haka, which is portrayed as a strong action, is to convey to their consumers that their carpet is also just as strong. Māori were not consulted regarding the use of traditional, cultural imagery; therefore, it is an overt act of appropriation for the purpose of profit.

Signed in 2012, the Ka Mate Attribution Act saw that the Ka Mate haka be protected as intellectual property and should anyone which to use words or actions from Ka Mate for commercial purposes, they are to pay attribution to Māori Iwi’s Te Rauparaha and Ngāti Toa Rangatira (Wilson, 2020). While this was a step forward, there is still work to be done to protect Māori culture within the promotional sphere. Examples such as imagery used by Invictus have been accepted as a means of making profit, but we don’t see the owners of the intellectual property reaping any rewards.

Another example of a company using the haka and Māori imagery for their advertising is an energy drink brand from Canada called ‘Haka Energy’. What they are telling their consumers is that if they buy their drink, they will have the same energy as the All Blacks doing the haka (Koti, 2017). On their cans there is an illustration with a traditional Māori Tā moko, and ‘haka’ written in bold. While the brand responded to the backlash against their cultural appropriation of Māori, and they agreed to review their marketing, to this day their imagery remains the same. Rather than the Tā moko representing rich Maori ancestry and tradition, and haka representing respect and spirituality, both are being degraded to an image on a can promoting an energy drink.

To summarise, the haka is a key part of our national identity. Our rugby team performs the haka before matches, the haka is taught in schools. The haka is an integral part of keeping Māori culture alive and creating global exposure. Over and over the haka is used within New Zealand and overseas to earn businesses a quick penny, all because of how people associate the haka with strength and power. Brands such as Invictus and Haka Energy take advantage of Māori culture and commodify aspects of their imagery such as the haka to sway consumers. More needs to be done to protect the integrity of Māori culture and the haka, because consumer culture and the world of promotion will just keep expanding.

Bibliography

Maori Culture
Haka
Commodification

--

--

Tegwyn McCormack
Tegwyn McCormack

Written by Tegwyn McCormack

0 Followers
1 Following

No responses yet

Help

Status

About

Careers

Press

Blog

Privacy

Terms

Text to speech

Teams