A picture of the vending machine, shared by a Twitter-user.
Coca-Cola's attempt to mix English with Maori - the language of New Zealand's indigenous people - backfired spectacularly, with the company's slogan on a vending machine reading 'Hello, death'. A post by Twitter-user Waikato Reo shows a picture of the vending machine, located in Auckland, which reads: "Kia ora, mate." The word mate means death in Maori, and friend in English.
According to Morning Bulletin, the vending machine is located at the Auckland Airport.
While it is obvious that 'Hello, friend' is the phrase that Coca-Cola wanted to go for, it clearly got lost in translation. It also left a lot of netizens amused. Since being shared online two days ago, the tweet has already collected over 1,000 'likes' and a ton of jokes:
Mr Reo told news.com.au he applauded Coca Cola for making an effort to speak the language.
"Although to Maori speakers we see the other meaning," he said. "(I would) suggest using 'Kia ora e hoa' - 'E hoa' meaning 'friend' or 'mate'."
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