The top of the Kiwiburger box has the mispelled word 'whanau' Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews
It is a 90's Kiwi classic.
The McDonald's Kiwiburger has returned for its second summer promotion, leaving a two-year-long, unnoticed spelling mistake on the packaging.
'Whānau,' the te reo Māori word for family is missing a macron on the box that contains the burger - the packaging has the revamped lyrics of the Kiwiburger song.
McDonald's New Zealand spokesperson Simon Kenny said it was frustrating to see the typo.
"Unfortunately, it appears that there has been a human error in updating the Kiwiburger packaging, and at some point the word 'whānau' lost its macron," Kenny said.
The only other word that requires a macron is 'kūmara,' which has been spelled correctly.
The same packaging has been used for throughout the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 summers, with the limited time product coming off the menu in a few weeks.
The word whānau will be corrected for future use Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews
There have been no complaints of the misspelling over the last two Kiwiburger campaign periods.
"We apologise for the error, and now it has been brought to our attention we will ensure it is corrected for future use."
Kenny said the company has been taking active involvements in te reo Māori revitalisation, and have been promoters of te wiki o te reo maori by putting te reo Māori kupu inside their chain restaurants and on their dine-in trays.
"McDonald's updated the lyrics for the iconic Kiwiburger song in 2020, to better reflect the modern New Zealand. There was extensive consultation and approvals for the new lyrics, including cultural advisors and language experts."
The reimaged song had Anika Moa, Troy Kingi, Tami Neilson, and a band of Kiwis banded together for the 2020 advertisement.
"The song has proved as popular as the burger and was re-run over the last two summers," Kenny said.
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