Ringatoi Maori + Colenso BBDO create online tool that replaces royal gossip with indigenous news
Sick of seeing coronation gossip all over the internet? Pīkari Mai is a new online web browser tool that replaces royal gossip and news, with indigenous content pulled from a range of other news sources.
This artistic project, which has been created in partnership with advertising agency Colenso BBDO includes advertising in outdoor, digital and on radio.
The plug-in works by using a data scrape to automatically scan web pages for keywords and visuals relating to the royal family. It then switches this content out for indigenous articles, sourced from multiple indigenous publishers. People who use the plug in will see that royal content is redacted and replaced.
Says Sam Bailey, [Ngāti Huarere, Ngāti Porou ki Harataunga] (pictured below), co-creator of Pīkari Mai: “Our hāpori (community) is fatigued by royal gossip and I felt like we deserve the option to opt-out. Pīkari Mai is a digital artistic intervention that gives our whānau whānui (wider family) something worth reading; indigenous news.
“Celebration of the coronation perpetuates the myth that there is a single treaty document. Tangata whenua never ceded sovereignty. We created Pīkari Mai as a special artistic project to challenge the coronation by bringing indigenous voices to the front pages of the internet.
“We want to honour the volumes of Kaituhi (indigenous writers) who have a legacy of prioritising news stories written by, for and about Tangata Whenua.”
Says Angela Watson, managing director of Colenso BBDO: “Around the world the legacy of colonialism is reflected in everyday ways that you may never think of – from street names to statues – this has a lasting impact on the psyche and sense of belonging for us as Tangata Tiriti, and our relationship with indigenous peoples globally, and Tangata Whenua here.
“The upcoming coronation will dominate our airwaves and whether you’re a fan or not you can appreciate how this is a reminder of the attempt to erase Māori culture in Aotearoa. When Sam shared the concept of Pīkari Mai as a statement of expression and a tool to highlight indigenous news, we were compelled to help with its creation.”
Download Pīkari Mai for free at pikarimai.co.nz
PLAY THE RADIO SPOT:
Client: Kōpū O Te Rangi
Client: Hāmiora Bailey (Ngāti Huarere, Ngāti Porou ki Harataunga), Founder
Agency: Colenso BBDO
Media Agency: Hearts & Science
PR Agency: Porter Novelli
Media Partners: JCDecaux, MediaWorks, Go Media. Phantom
5 Comments
And the award for insufferably woke campaign of the year goes to…
But also pretty funny
It wants its novelty browser plug-ins back.
People seem to incapable of separating their feelings towards individual members
of the royal family from their understanding of the role the monarchy plays.
Having Charles [whether I like him or not] as king is the price I will gladly pay to
ensure our head of state [and that of NZ] remains above politics.
I can think of nothing more likely to create political unrest than to have a popularly
elected head of state. The only thing scarier is to think of the sort of people who would
stand and those who wouldn’t. Sadly, the very people we need as our head of state –
outstanding apolitical public servants like Sir Ninian Stephen, Sir Zelman Cowen,
Dame Quentin Bryce, Sir William Dean etc – would never stand in any election, whereas
Dick Smith, Eddie McGuire, Peter FitzSimons would.
Can you think of anything more politically divisive than an elected head of state who won
with a 51/49 vote. Even more so if the competing candidates had led a life of political activism.
It’s not by accident that the most stable countries on earth are constitutional monarchies.
The UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, even Thailand. The Spanish
resurrected their monarchy to bring back the stability and certainty that came with the crown.
Our opinions might differ, but that’s mine.
It’s about minimising benign royal gossip – not dismantling the monarchy