Plucky fast food chain Nando's may have had their controversial Julius
Malema ad pulled from TV, but it's not letting the chickens come home
to roost, writes Candice Bailey in the Pretoria News.
Earlier this week, the ANC Youth League had their feathers ruffled by TV adverts which depicted the ANCYL president as a ventriloquist's puppet voting for change – as the country went to the polls. In the advert, the puppet explains what "value for money" the new Nando's R33,95 special is because customers received more change when they paid with higher denomination notes.
The youth league called the advert "disgusting", saying Nando's had used cheap satire to undermine electoral politics in SA, and they called for the immediate canning of the ad.
"We are fully aware that the advertisement is intended at mocking the president of the ANCYL, and in a racist fashion portrays political leaders as cartoons," the youth league said.
After a meeting with the enraged league, Nando's agreed to remove the advertisements within 24 hours.
However, the gutsy chicken outlet hit back last night, airing a variation of the controversial ad, which bore a striking resemblance to the first.
The adapted advert features the face of "Malema" blurred and his voice distorted, with a runner at the bottom of the screen saying the picture and sound had been masked to protect innocent parties.
Although they had not shown the advert to the youth league, Nando's national marketing manager, Sylvester Chauke, was sure the league would not be upset.
Click here to read the full reprot, posted on iol.co.za.
