Cinema still from the Walt Disney animated movie Moana, featuring the voices of Dwayne Johnson as demi-god Maui (right) and Auli'i Cravalho as Moana. The Straits Times/Asia News Network
Within days, Disney pulled the costume from outlets worldwide, offering an apology for any offence caused.
New Zealand's Maori Party, one of the costume's harshest critics, said the controversy could have been avoided if Disney had consulted properly.
"They're obviously not making any approach or having any deep engagement with the people of Polynesia, to whom that intellectual property belongs," a spokeswoman told AFP.
"They're not talking with the people from that culture, the guardians of that culture, so they're not getting it right." There have been similar, though less vociferous, complaints about other Pacific cultural faux pas in recent years.
Haka parodies have been used to sell everything from gingerbread men in New Zealand to soft drinks in Japan - all without permission from the war dance's traditional owners.
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