New Zealanders in Canada are speaking out against an energy drink they say appropriates Maori language and culture — and they've got the New Zealand government on their side. 

Haka Energy Drink is based out of Uruguay, but started operating Canada in last year. The drink is manufactured in Toronto and sold online and in convenience stories throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

"They should not be able to take such an iconic and important cultural name and use it for a product," Ottawa-based New Zealander Jane Moloney, who filed a complaint with the New Zealand High Commission, told As It Happens host Carol Off.

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In Maori culture, Haka refers to a traditional display used in war or as a challenge, and it's considered an expression of pride and strength for the Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. 

The energy drink uses a Maori-style logo and the taglines, "Unleash your inner warrior" and "Warrior life ... Charge up."

The company's use of scantily clad women in its marketing "is just another level of insult," Monoley said. 

Haka's use of sexualized women in its marketing is 'just another level of insult,' New Zealander Jane Moloney says. (Haka Energy Drink Canada/Instagram)

The drink started making headlines in New Zealand after members of the Kia Ora Canada Facebook page, a social group for New Zealanders in Canada, spotted the beverage on store shelves in Toronto and started speaking out.

"People who are Maori and those of us who are not have reached out. We emailed the company. Messages have been sent on Instagram, through Facebook, and at first all of those initiatives were blocked," Moloney said.

"People were actually blocked from being able to connect with this company through social media. So that was very hurtful."

The company has since issued an apology and spokesperson told As It Happens that it is "undertaking a review" of its marketing materials.

Haka is sold in stories throughout the Greater Toronto Area. (Haka Energy Drinks Canada/Facebook)

The controversy has prompted responses from the New Zealand government and Maori leaders.

"Because any use of Maori culture, design, ideas, intellectual property should be a matter where Maori are involved and have the ability to influence the way in which things can be done correctly if at all," New Zealand Labour Maori Affairs and Treaty Settlements spokeswoman Nanaia Mahuta told the New Zealand Herald.

Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell echoed those statements.

"Haka is powerful so I can see why a company making an energy drink would want to associate itself with it," Flavell told the newspaper. "But in this day and age it is easy to do a simple web search to make sure you don't offend anyone with a brand name."

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a statement saying: "We share those concerns and the New Zealand High Commission in Ottawa is seeking further information."

The company, meanwhile, says it never meant to offend. 

"We are a small, family-owned business and it was never our intention to offend anyone. It was with profound respect that we chose 'Hakaenergy' to exemplify the spirit of warriors around the world," a spokesperson said in an email to As It Happens.

"We have already extended our humble apology to the media and some of the people that reached out to us."

Haka has apologized and bowed to review its marketing materials. (Haka Engery Drinks Canada/Instagram)

It's not clear what changes Haka will make to its marketing materials, but Moloney said they should drop the name altogether.

"It's a well accepted conversation for anybody that feels the need to move toward reconciliation that this is not level playing field. This is not an environment where those who are the oppressors can simply walk in and take the culture of those who have been oppressed historically and make a profit out if it," she said.

"This is not just Maori who are offended by this. I think that all New Zelanders hold this cultural concept very dear and the company will be making a very big mistake."