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Friday, December 2, 2011

TV / International Nandos Withdraws Its Mugabe-Mocking Advertisement

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:18 AM

Charles posted this fucking brilliant ad—which features Mugabe as the last dictator standing—on Tuesday:

Now Nandos, a fast-food chicken restaurant based in South Africa, has pulled the ad because it's afraid of reprisals to its employees in Zimbabwe, where making fun of the head of state is a crime.

BBC:

Nando's South Africa said it decided to act after receiving threats to its staff in Zimbabwe from a youth group loyal to Mr Mugabe...

"We've noted with concern the political reaction emanating out of Zimbabwe, including perceived threats against Nando's Zimbabwe's management, staff and customers," Nando's South Africa said in a statement.

"We feel strongly that this is the prudent step to take in a volatile climate and believe that no TV commercial is worth risking the safety of Nando's staff and customers."

Still, they made their point. And whoever's behind the Nandos ads is a master of delicate comedy in the age of globalization—running right up to the edge of a taboo, tapping it, and backing off at just the right moment. Here's one they did for Ramadan:

Comments (6) RSS

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I normally had ads with a fiery passion, but both of these are fucking brilliant.

Posted by Reverse Polarity on December 2, 2011 at 11:30 AM

wtf.. there is a nando's in Zimbabwe but not on the west coast?

Posted by amsellie on December 2, 2011 at 12:23 PM

@2: Well, it was founded in South Africa, so it's not surprising that it has branches in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Posted by ctnguy on December 2, 2011 at 12:26 PM

These are as brilliant as the old Trunk Monkey ads.

http://www.trunkmonkey.com/2005/01/18/tr…

Posted by Smartypants on December 2, 2011 at 12:35 PM

@2, there are Nando's in Vancouver. I think there might be several of them. They're all over the world; I've eaten in one in Melbourne, Australia. Or maybe just places with a large South Asian population?

Posted by Fnarf

on December 2, 2011 at 1:09 PM

I've seen Nando's in Sydhey; peri peri chicken is pretty popular over there. I'm running a peri peri chicken sandwich marinated in Nando's sauce as a special next week in my cafe.

Posted by tournant on December 2, 2011 at 5:24 PM