Kiwiana

Kiwiana are certain items and icons from New Zealand's heritage, especially from around the middle of the 20th century that are seen as representing iconic Kiwi elements. These "quirky things that contribute to a sense of nationhood" include both genuine cultural icons and kitsch.

Items of kiwiana are generally either unique to, or particularly common to New Zealand, particularly from the early and mid twentieth century. Although the term is sometimes used to describe any and all New Zealand icons, it is more commonly used to describe pop culture items such as toys or branded foods. A few more serious national icons have become kiwiana through heavy use in advertising and the souvenir industry. These include the kiwi and the hei-tiki. Kiwiana is generally seen as a form of kitsch.

A number of products widely regarded as kiwiana, such as Weet-Bix, Watties tomato sauce, Marmite and L&P, are made by non-New Zealand companies. In some cases this is because the original New Zealand company has been purchased by an overseas corporation, in others the product has always been made by an international firm. A number of companies with products deemed to be 'kiwiana' have enthusiastically cashed in on this. For example, a Watties advertising campaign has claimed that "you'll never be a Kiwi 'til you love your Watties sauce", even though the company is now American-owned, and a Sanitarium campaign in the 1990s claimed that "Kiwi kids are Weet-Bix kids". The advertisement was a dubbed version of an Australian advertisement that claimed that 'Aussie kids are Weet-bix kids' and the landscape in the background of the advertisement is recognisably Australian. Other companies have attempted to create their own Kiwiana. For example, McDonald's has an off and on 'Kiwiburger' sold within their stores in New Zealand; which was an attempt to duplicate the traditional New Zealand style of burger. Its main distinguishing features were a slice of beetroot and a fried egg, and its advertisement was essentially a sung list of kiwiana items; the item most recently appearing from August 2011 as a part of the Rugby World Cup. A series of L&P commercials, featuring Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords, are based around Kiwiana themed items, and were very popular with New Zealanders.

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