South African chicken shack pulls ad that offends last dictator standing

Nando's is South Africa's answer to KFC. It sells chicken piri-piri, which is really a Portuguese recipe, hotter than the Colonel's secret formula, but the basic marketing concept is the same.

The advertising shticks are the same too. A good one for Christmas is: being alone during the holidays can be upsetting, so get a six-piece chicken combo and you won't have to eat alone. Even if you're a ruthless dictator. Now that you've read the synopsis, watch the commercial.


In case you didn't recognize all the players, the commercial features Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe having a water gun fight with deceased Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, making sand angels with deceased Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, pushing former South African apartheid-era leader P.W. Botha on a swing, waving at a crowd with Chairman Mao (deceased) and riding a tank with deceased Uganda President Idi Amin. In all scenes, they look like kids playing at recess, smiling ear to ear.

The commercial is called "Last Dictator Standing", and sure enough, Comrade Bob is shown at the finish, sitting all alone at a banquet table. "This time of year, no one should have to eat alone so get a Nando's six-back meal," says the voiceover.

The commercial was intended to poke fun at the fallen dictators, but has now been pulled because of the outcry from ZANU-PF (Mugabe's party) supporters in Zimbabwe. A militant youth group threatened to boycott the restaurant if they didn't pull the ad.

Under Zimbabwean law -- see my footnotes -- it is an offence to insult Comrade Bob or undermine his authority. So Nando's could have faced prosecution in Hahaharare (Africa's fun capital), not to mention attacks on their stores and employees.

Result? Nando's caved, and pulled the ad. Another defeat for freedom of the press and freedom of thought in the Dark Continent.

Footnotes: Zimbabwe's law against making fun of the president dates from independence in 1980. The reason for the law becomes apparent as Walt reveals the name of Zimbabwe's first president -- Caanan Banana.

But haven't I said time and again that Mugabe has been in power since independence? True, but he was only Prime Minister for the first couple of years. Mr. Banana was only a figurehead, chosen because he was the biggest of the bunch.

What became of President Banana? Years after Comrade Bob deposed him and became "Executive President", Banana was discovered to have been having relations of an LGBT nature with one of the palace guards. He was sentenced to a term of years in the notorious Chikurubi prison and hasn't been heard from in some time.