By Soumya Bhamidipati of RNZ

Mitre 10 is changing the names of some bathroom products because they are culturally insensitive.

The home improvement chain’s “Legacy” brand used te reo Māori names for items such as toilet seats, toilet roll holders, robe hooks, grab rails and towel rails.

A video seen by RNZ showed some of these products’ packaging had been covered with stickers to replace the Māori with English - a “Te anau towel ring” had become the “Ellesmere towel ring’” while the “Karapiro towel ring” was now the “Clutha towel ring’” What had been known as the “Kaiiwi toilet roll holder” was now listed as the “Legacy toilet roll holder” on the company’s website.

Mitre 10 said the changes were intended to make the names more culturally sensitive.

“We are in the process of changing the names because of the cultural sensitivity of using te reo Māori lake and river names on some of our bathroom ranges.

“We identified mid-last year that these longstanding product names needed to be changed out of respect for te reo and te ao Māori.”

The products were sourced from overseas, and the stickers were an interim measure until current stock was sold, the company said.

Māori cultural and tikanga expert Karaitiana Taiuru said the company was correct in thinking the original names were inappropriate.

“Rivers are normally named after ancestors, they have spiritual connections to both the physical environment and the people ... many Māori believe that their rivers have a mauri, or a life essence inside them,” he said.

“Calling something like a toilet roll holder by a sacred name, such as Kaiiwi, is disgusting and offensive.”

Mitre 10 bathroom product names have been changed from te reo Māori to English.

The chain was acting as a “good corporate citizen” and “doing the right thing” now, Taiuru said, but the situation could have been avoided earlier.

“I’m a little bit surprised that someone like Mitre 10 didn’t do cultural audits beforehand. As a consumer, I see them using a lot of te reo Māori names and, until this interview, I thought they were quite a culturally safe organisation,” he said.

“I would have thought they would have spent a little bit of money as part of their marketing and branding budget just to double-check that these names were okay.”

However, Taiuru was not surprised it had taken years for the company to recognise the names were inappropriate.

Mitre 10 did not clarify how it became aware of the problem when approached by RNZ, but one worker said the Legacy brand had been using te reo Māori names for more than five years.

“From experience, it takes a brave person to speak out against a corporate brand, because when you do speak out, you are often subjected to personal abuse. A lot of Māori would see that and just say ‘oh, well I’m not shopping here again’,” Taiuru said.

- RNZ