“Corporate Colonialism: How Air NZ's Dream Seats Peddle Neoliberal Fantasies While Māori Struggle in Real Life” - 18 July 2025
E te iwi, a Corporate Charade in the Making
Kia ora whānau. Na Ivor Jones, te Māori Green Lantern, kaitiaki exposing corporate duplicity.
In the heart of Aotearoa, where our ancestors once guided waka across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, a neoliberal nightmare masquerades as inspiration. Air New Zealand's "Dream Seats" campaign represents the latest iteration of corporate colonialism, weaponising the language of aspiration to disguise systemic inequality and exploit Māori poverty for profit.
This essay dissects how Air New Zealand's corporate ambassador programme, fronted by financial influencer Simran Kaur, perpetuates the very neoliberal structures that have dispossessed Māori of wealth and wellbeing for generations. Through careful analysis of the campaign's rhetoric, the selection of its ambassadors, and the broader context of corporate social responsibility theatre, we expose how multinational corporations continue to colonise Māori dreams while maintaining the economic apartheid that keeps our people poor.
The Neoliberal Nightmare: Historical Context of Corporate Colonialism
The "Dream Seats" campaign emerges from a 40-year legacy of neoliberal restructuring that has devastated Māori communities. Since the 1980s, New Zealand underwent radical neoliberal reforms that systematically dismantled the post-war welfare state, privatised public assets, and entrenched economic inequality1. These reforms, initially implemented by the Fourth Labour Government under David Lange and finance minister Roger Douglas, transformed New Zealand from one of the world's most regulated economies to one of the most open to market forces.
The impact on Māori has been catastrophic. Between 2015 and 2018, European New Zealanders held median wealth of $220,000 compared to just $46,000 for Māori and $24,000 for Pacific peoples2. This means that on average, a European person has 4.8 times as much net worth as a Māori person2. The wealth gap is not shrinking – it is growing, with the poorest 40 percent of New Zealanders seeing no increase in their wealth over recent years3.
Wealth inequality in New Zealand by ethnic group, showing the stark disparities between European wealth and that of Māori and Pacific peoples
This massive wealth disparity reflects the systematic exclusion of Māori from decision-making around how the economy is designed, including direct breaches of Te Tiriti and the failure to honour purchase deeds4. The neoliberal project has been fundamentally colonial, transferring wealth from indigenous communities to private capital while using the language of "choice" and "opportunity" to mask structural violence.
The "Dream Seats" Deception: Analysing Corporate Propaganda
Air New Zealand's Dream Seats campaign represents a masterclass in neoliberal propaganda. The programme promises to help over 100 New Zealanders "move closer to achieving their dreams" through free flights, positioning itself as a benevolent corporate citizen supporting individual aspirations. However, the campaign's language reveals its true purpose: reinforcing neoliberal ideology while deflecting attention from systemic inequality.
The campaign's rhetoric is saturated with individualistic assumptions that fundamentally contradict Māori values. Chief Executive Greg Foran declares: "This isn't about granting wishes. It's about backing New Zealanders who are already doing the hard work"5. This statement embodies the neoliberal fallacy that poverty results from individual failings rather than structural oppression.
The selection of corporate ambassadors further exposes the campaign's ideological agenda. The six ambassadors include Ryan Fox (professional golfer), Dame Valerie Adams (Olympic athlete), Shaun Johnson (rugby league player), Josh Emett (chef), Simran Kaur (financial educator), and Tom Sainsbury (comedian)5. Notably absent are voices from Māori communities, environmental activists, or advocates for systemic change. The ambassadors represent elite success stories that reinforce the myth that anyone can "make it" if they work hard enough.
Simran Kaur: The Neoliberal Prophet of Individual Responsibility
Simran Kaur's selection as a Dream Seats ambassador is particularly insidious. As the founder of Friends That Invest, she has built a media empire promoting financial literacy and individual wealth accumulation6. While financial education has value, Kaur's approach fundamentally ignores the structural barriers that prevent Māori from accumulating wealth.
Kaur's philosophy centres on individual responsibility, advocating that people should "just keep trying smarter" to achieve their dreams6. This perspective completely ignores the reality that Māori are 12 percent more likely to believe that wealth comes from luck and connections rather than individual effort7. This isn't a deficiency in Māori thinking – it's an accurate assessment of how power operates in a colonised society.
Critics on Reddit have described Kaur's approach as "patronising" and noted that "she came on this thread once and got booed away so quick"8. Community members have highlighted concerns about her credibility and the appropriateness of her advice for people facing genuine financial hardship.
The Māori Worldview: Collective Prosperity vs Individual Accumulation
The fundamental problem with the Dream Seats campaign lies in its complete disconnection from Māori values and understanding of prosperity. In te ao Māori, prosperity is not measured by individual wealth but by the strength of relationships with each other, the whenua, and whakapapa9. Māori economic activity is grounded in taonga with labour organised through mahi and reciprocal exchanges based on utu4.
Research shows that Māori have a strong underlying cultural orientation towards wealth sharing rather than personal wealth accumulation10. Māori are motivated to save so that they have access to money for family purposes, with monetary obligations to whānau often taking precedence over household obligations10. This reflects the principle of whakapapa, where individual identity and responsibility are understood in relation to the collective11.
The collision between these worldviews creates profound tension. As one research participant noted: "Money as a dollar value... ultimately when we look at the Māori-Pacific view, it's how we look after our whānau. We are told to save to put aside our money first; it doesn't fit the whānau space"10. The Dream Seats campaign's emphasis on individual achievement directly contradicts these collective values.
Air New Zealand's Corporate Colonialism: A Pattern of Exploitation
Air New Zealand's Dream Seats campaign must be understood within the context of the airline's broader pattern of corporate colonialism. Despite branding itself with indigenous symbols like the koru, the airline has consistently rejected Māori employees who wear tā moko, describing this as "corporate tokenism"12. Critics have noted how the airline "dares to brand itself with Indigenous symbols while rejecting employees who wear those same symbols on their bodies"13.
Research on Air New Zealand's tourism campaigns reveals how the airline utilises Indigenous cultural forms for commercial purposes, resulting in cultural exploitation and expropriation14. This pattern of appropriating Māori symbols while excluding Māori people exemplifies the neocolonial nature of corporate social responsibility.
The airline's environmental record further exposes its hypocrisy. In 2024, Air New Zealand abandoned its 2030 climate targets, withdrawing from the Science Based Targets Initiative15. The airline has been accused of greenwashing, using environmental marketing while failing to implement meaningful change16. This demonstrates how corporate social responsibility serves as a smokescreen for continued environmental destruction.
The Neoliberal Assault on Māori Wellbeing
The Dream Seats campaign represents more than corporate marketing – it is part of a broader neoliberal assault on Māori wellbeing that has systematically dismantled collective structures and imposed individualistic solutions on structural problems. The neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and 1990s included massive cuts to welfare spending and the 1991 Employment Contracts Act, which had devastating impacts on unions and working people17.
The current income gap for Māori is $2.6 billion per year, with Māori earning on average $10,000 less than the New Zealand average for their age group18. If current trends continue, this gap will grow to $4.3 billion per year by 203818. These figures represent not just economic statistics but the systematic impoverishment of an entire people.
The neoliberal emphasis on individual responsibility ignores the reality that Māori face structural barriers including racism, occupational segregation, and tokenism in employment19. Academic research shows that highly marginalised groups such as Māori and Pacific peoples still face significant economic, social, and cultural obstacles despite government and private sector attempts to address inequalities20.
The Greenwashing of Corporate Social Responsibility
Air New Zealand's Dream Seats campaign exemplifies the broader phenomenon of corporate greenwashing, where companies use social responsibility rhetoric to mask continued harmful practices. Greenwashing has become a growing concern as companies attempt to capitalise on increasing demand for sustainable products without implementing meaningful change21.
The practice of greenwashing undermines the credibility of Corporate Social Responsibility by misleading stakeholders and creating ethical dilemmas21. Companies often exploit regulatory loopholes and ambiguous sustainability standards to present an eco-friendly image without implementing meaningful change21.
The Dream Seats campaign functions as social washing – using social responsibility rhetoric to distract from structural inequalities while reinforcing the very systems that create poverty. By focusing on individual dreams rather than systemic change, the campaign perpetuates the neoliberal myth that inequality results from individual failings rather than structural oppression.
The Colonisation of Dreams: How Corporate Ambassadors Manufacture Consent
The selection of corporate ambassadors for the Dream Seats campaign represents a sophisticated form of manufactured consent, using influential figures to legitimise neoliberal ideology while marginalising alternative voices. Brand ambassadors serve as "positive spokespersons" whose ability to use promotional strategies strengthens the customer-product-service relationship22. However, their role extends beyond marketing to ideological reproduction.
The evolution of brand ambassadors from celebrity endorsements to self-branding reflects the broader neoliberalisation of identity22. Professional figures now function as extensions of corporate branding, taking into account the requirements of every company22. This creates a feedback loop where successful individuals become spokespeople for the systems that enabled their success, while structural barriers faced by others remain invisible.
The absence of Māori voices among the Dream Seats ambassadors is particularly telling. Despite the airline's use of Māori symbols and imagery, none of the six ambassadors represent Māori perspectives or experiences5. This exclusion reinforces the colonial pattern of appropriating Māori culture while silencing Māori voices.
The Decolonisation Alternative: Reclaiming Māori Economic Sovereignty
The solution to corporate colonialism lies not in reformed corporate social responsibility but in the decolonisation of economic structures and the restoration of Māori economic sovereignty. The Māori economy has grown from contributing $17 billion to New Zealand's GDP in 2018 to $32 billion in 2023, with an asset base of $126 billion4. However, this growth occurs within structures that continue to privilege individual accumulation over collective wellbeing.
True Māori economic development requires "hybrid strategies to strategically navigate the dominant system" while working to "change the shape of the dominant system"4. Examples include social savings for purchasing whānau homes, collective behaviour change programmes, and weekly contributions to marae or whānau savings10.
The principle of rangatiratanga – self-determination – provides a framework for economic empowerment that allows Māori to control their own aspirations10. This includes recognising that what participants need is "a vision for a way of being Māori that includes acceptable forms of material wealth accumulation"10.
Broader Implications: The Corporate Capture of Social Change
The Dream Seats campaign represents a broader pattern of corporate capture of social change movements. Research on corporate social responsibility in New Zealand reveals moderate levels of CSR practices, with lack of resources and cost-time balance as common barriers for CSR adoption23. However, the primary function of CSR is not social change but reputation management and profit protection.
The neoliberal project has consistently privatised public goods while socialising corporate losses24. The bailout of private banks with public funds during the 2008 financial crisis demonstrates how the state remains an indispensable pillar of market capitalism24. Corporate social responsibility programmes like Dream Seats serve to legitimise this system by creating the illusion of corporate benevolence while maintaining structural inequalities.
The campaign's timing is particularly significant, occurring during a period of heightened inequality and environmental crisis. New Zealand's ecological footprint of 7.7 hectares per person is the sixth highest in the world, largely due to intensive agriculture, inefficient energy use, and high rates of motor vehicle ownership25. Rather than addressing these structural issues, corporate social responsibility programmes deflect attention toward individual solutions.
The Path Forward: Resistance and Alternatives
The Dream Seats campaign's fundamental dishonesty lies in its promise of individual solutions to collective problems. As one Māori economic researcher noted: "If we want to have this very whenua-oriented and whakapapa-oriented economic ends being served by our economic practices, then we need to engage with the system that generates the constraints"4.
True change requires systemic transformation, not corporate charity. The best investment that can be made is in people – to invest in their ability to reach their own potential and the potential of their whānau26. This means challenging the neoliberal structures that create poverty while building alternative economic models based on Māori values.
The growing calls for decolonising New Zealand's economy reflect recognition that the current system is fundamentally incompatible with Māori wellbeing27. With Māori representing nearly 20% of Aotearoa's population and growing faster than the ageing Pākehā population, where Māori go is increasingly where New Zealand goes27.
The Māori Green Lanterrn fighting misinformation and disinformation from the far right
Rejecting Corporate Colonialism
Air New Zealand's Dream Seats campaign represents everything wrong with corporate social responsibility under neoliberalism. By promoting individual solutions to structural problems, selecting ambassadors who reinforce elite perspectives, and appropriating the language of inspiration while maintaining systems of oppression, the campaign perpetuates the very inequalities it claims to address.
The campaign's selection of Simran Kaur as an ambassador is particularly problematic, given her promotion of financial individualism that fundamentally contradicts Māori values of collective wellbeing. Her philosophy of "failing upwards" and individual responsibility ignores the structural barriers that prevent Māori from accessing wealth and opportunity.
For Māori communities, the lesson is clear: corporate charity is not liberation. True change requires the decolonisation of economic structures and the restoration of Māori economic sovereignty based on whakapapa, whakatōhea, and rangatiratanga. We must reject the neoliberal mythology of individual success and instead build economic models that serve collective wellbeing.
The Dream Seats campaign is not about helping people achieve their dreams – it is about manufacturing consent for a system that crushes dreams while pretending to nurture them. It is time to wake up from this corporate-sponsored nightmare and build the future our ancestors dreamed of: one where prosperity is shared, the environment is protected, and all people can flourish.
Readers who find value in this analysis and wish to support the struggle against corporate colonialism are humbly invited to consider a donation to help sustain this work. In these challenging economic times, please only contribute a koha if you have the capacity and wish to do so: HTDM: 03-1546-0415173-000.
Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui.
Ivor Jones
The Māori Green Lantern