A series of craft beers from the Te Aro Brewing Company have come under criticism after the labels featured the Polynesian sailor Kupe alongside the colonial explorers Magellan and Columbus.
Photo: Te Aro Brewery

A brewery in Upper Hutt has been told to withdraw its Kupe beer from sale and remove associated advertising after it was found to breach advertising standards.

Te Aro Brewing named its Kupe New Zealand IPA after the Polynesian navigator as part of its Age of Discovery series – a limited range of beers that focus on historical explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan.

The company also promoted the Kupe beer on its Facebook and Instagram accounts, linking it to, among other things, the Matariki holiday in June.

Concerns about the product and its advertising were first raised in July, when Māori cultural adviser and tikanga expert Dr Karaitiana Taiuru (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Toa) described it as “highly offensive”.

The Advertising Standards Authority received two complaints about the product’s packaging and advertising.

Both complaints argued that the association had exploited, humiliated, denigrated and degraded Kupe and, by extension, the Mana of its descendants and the people and places associated with it.

One described it as an appalling cultural appropriation of a rangatira with significant status in Te Ao Māori and Pasifika.

In its statement to the authority, Te Aro Brewing stated that it was never the intention to offend anyone and at no time did it consider the possibility that anyone might be offended by naming a beer after a historical figure.

The brewery said it was unaware of the previous controversy in 2016, when Birkenhead Brewing Company apologised for using images of Māori ancestors on two of its beer labels.

It was noted that the idea for the Explorer beer range and the inclusion of Kupe in it came from a Te Aro employee of Māori descent.

However, the ASA upheld the complaints and found that Kupe beer was likely to cause serious offense.

The board explained that while the brewery did not intend to cause offence, this did not mean that its advertising did not breach the code.

The court concluded that the naming and packaging of the product violated the required high standards of social responsibility.

It said that advertising, packaging and product names had to be removed and not reused.

Te Aro said 13 barrels and 1500 cans of Kupe NZIPA were produced.

At the time of writing, the beer was still available for sale on Te Aro Brewing’s website and the company’s Facebook and Instagram posts about the Kupe NZIPA were also still online.

Te Aro Brewing has been contacted for comment.