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New Zealand Maori angry over US tattoo kit | Quote: | New Zealand Māori has said that it will try to get a Maori Halloween tattoo kit withdrawn from sale, from the Los Angeles store Halloween Town, that they find insulting to the Māori culture.
The Halloween Town, a store that specializes in Halloween costumes and accessories, is selling the tattoo kit for NZ$16. The stores online website features a photograph of a full facial Tā moko (Māori tattoo) instead of their usual caricatures. Māori added that the Tā moko is not frightening, "And he doesn't look scary to me – he looks quite handsome," said Aroha Mead
Aroha Mead, Victoria University of Wellington Māori business lecturer, also said "There didn't appear to be much that Māori could do. No-one likes to see their culture being denigrated but we are aware that the moko is in the public domain."
Rotorua acedmic Ngahihi o te ra Bidois, who has a full facial moko, has asked the Halloween Town store to remove the tattoo kits. "It is insulting ... what they are doing is not portraying Māori correctly," Bidois said.
A moko is traditionally restricted to male Māori and is used to represent mana (prestige). |
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