The Kia Ora Incident The Kia Ora Incident The Kia Ora Incident is an incident that took place in 1984, at a time when the use of Māori phrases was uncommon in New Zealand. An Auckland telephone operator, Naida Glavish, was instructed to stop using ""kia ora"" when greeting callers after the post office had received a complaint. She refused to do so and was consequently stood down, with the whole affair attracting much public interest. The Postmaster-General, Rob Talbot, convinced the Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, to overturn that prohibition. This event is considered key in the movement to revitalise Te Reo Maori. A
Kia-Ora was refreshed in 1987, with a series of advertisements directed by Geoff Dunbar, featuring redesigned characters, the introduction of the boy's chubby father, and new variations on the jingle. The success of the Kia-Ora brand subsequently declined, overtaken by rival juice producers such as Robinsons. Coca-Cola eventually discontinued all variations except sugar-free orange and sugar-free mixed fruit. The advertising campaigns that Kia-Ora had been relying on for over 50 years had also been failing, due to criticism from the public that the brand was built on negative values such as racism. Kia-Ora Kia-Ora is a concentrated fruit soft drink brand,