Local sushi restaurant Maki-san has changed its "Maki Kita" National Day sushi special to "Harmony Maki".

This was after it got roasted on social media as the words "Maki Kita" translates to "Curse us" in Malay.

Harmony Maki

In a Facebook post on Aug. 4, Maki-san apologised for their previous marketing fail:

Part of the post said:

With this, our team has decided to change the name of the product, to be more sensitive to the culture of our Malay consumers.

On Aug. 4, the "Maki Kita" post on Instagram received backlash from consumers, as they proceeded to curse Maki-san openly.

Within one day of putting the post up on Maki-san's Instagram page on Aug. 4, it was taken down.

Why "Maki Kita" is funny

One reason consumers found "Maki Kita" to be funny and incongruous was because Maki-san is a Halal-certified restaurant.

This means they are attempting to serve the Malay-Muslim clientele in Singapore by abiding to strict processes in food preparation to meet the required criteria for certification.

However, this attempt at catering to a particular group of Singaporeans did not translate to paying closer attention to their marketing campaign -- as the faux pas could have been avoided.

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"Maki Kita" was praised in The Straits Times

Interestingly, the "Maki Kita" sushi was even featured and praised in The Straits Times on Aug. 2, without the possible faux pas highlighted.

Related article:

Maki-san deletes 'Maki Kita' Instagram post after realising it means 'Curse us' in Malay

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