When I got an email this morning telling me "Princess Ka‘iulani is now following you on Twitter!" I thought for sure it was a Hawaiian sovereignty activist account. Who else would assume the persona of such an outspoken opponent of the annexation of Hawaii? Boy, was I wrong.
The profile URL for the account is to GoHawaii.com, which is the consumer-facing travel website for the Hawaii Tourism Authority. You might not know that looking at the page, but that's who the registrant is.
I can't believe the Hawaii Tourism Authority thinks it's
okay to use Princess Ka‘iulani's name and persona to pitch affordable vacation
packages. She was heir to the
throne and practically a martyr to the cause of an independent and sovereign
Hawaii. Conscripting her persona
for commercial purposes strikes me as cheap and offensive. Yes, there already is a Waikiki hotel
named after her, but there is no virtue in perpetuating error.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority is the "lead state agency
for tourism" according to their own website. The first element in their vision is, "Honor Hawaii’s
people and heritage." Some
people can lie without flinching.
Anyway, am I being too sensitive about this? I'm not
Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiian) but I got an adrenaline smack in the face when I
saw this and I'm still kinda pumped.
What do you guys think?
Doug
25 June 2011
Makiki, Honolulu
[Update of 6/27/2011: The Princess Kaiulani Twitter account is probably NOT the work of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. More info at my post here.]
[Update of 6/27/2011: The Princess Kaiulani Twitter account is probably NOT the work of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. More info at my post here.]
A'ole Pono. I googled the Twitter feed but can't find it.. Did they remove it?
ReplyDeleteNo new tweets (just 4 so far), but the account is still there: https://twitter.com/#!/HRH_Kaiulani
ReplyDeleteWow. This is horrible, horrible Twitter campaign. A breach of good taste. An insult to the crown, the people and the woman herself. I can believe it.
ReplyDeletethanks Doug
ReplyDelete