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National | One Love Festival

'Aoteatora'? One Love merch mix-up irks festival fans

Some festival-goers at One Love over the weekend were left bemused after the word Aotearoa was misspelt as 'Aoteatora' on some of the limited edition merchandise sold at the festival.

The unfortunate typo was visible on some of the singlets and hats sold at the event.

Some buyers have posted images of their merchandise on Facebook, with reactions ranging from shock and irritation to amusement.

A spokesperson from the organisers of One Love, Pato Entertainment, told Te Kāea they had misprinted 200 singlets and 150 hats.

The spokesperson says they made sure no more went to print and asked if it would be disrespectful to sell the items with the misprint at a discounted price.

"We were told it wouldn’t be disrespectful - so we made sure we sold them at a discounted price and people were made aware before purchasing of the misprint," says the spokesperson.

"We have not had any complaints as people were told prior to purchase."

Te Atata Rangimarie wrote in a comment on a Facebook post that the singlets were put on sale for $50, instead of the original price of $70.

However, some buyers like Uru Hepi from Sydney were sold items at full price, totally unaware of the mistake.

"When we brought them, nobody told us they were discounted and there was no signs or nothing like that to say these top have been misspelt and they're at a different price."

Hepi and his friend purchased several items, including a beige basketball singlet that had the spelling mistake.

“I was disappointed for my mate because he’s come from Australia, he’s Tongan, he bought his singlet and it wasn’t until Sunday night that we noticed they had been spelt wrong, he says.

"Even though a lot of people over here won’t notice, there will be some that will and because he knows he feels like he’s been kind of ripped off."

#ONELOVE Did you purchase misspelt merchandise at One Love in the weekend? Instead of Aotearoa, it was spelt as Aoteatora. Comment below with photos of your gear if you did!

Posted by Te Ao Māori News on Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Hepi says he has attempted to make contact with Pato Entertainment via Facebook messenger has not received a reply.

"I don’t want to bag out Pato Entertainment because they run a really good weekend, but when you’re coming from all parts of the world and you are buying merchandise you shouldn’t have to worry about if it has defects."

Around 20,000 people attended the festival over the weekend, which featured top reggae artists UB40, Kolohe Kai and Katchafire.