The excitement surrounding Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition and its award-winning film helped to once again promote tropical exploration. Importantly within the context of tiki culture, it successfully injected the word "tiki" into the popular American lexicon on a large scale (Hawaiians had not used the word "tiki", but rather "ki‘i"). Heyerdahl's work also expanded the theme's mythology to include the west coast of South America in what became an ever increasing mix of cultural motifs, both real and imagined. Easter Island statues (moai) also became iconic with the publication of his book Aku-Aku.