Several years ago, Nandos (a restaurant chain known for its tongue-in-cheek ads) released a controversial advertisement. It was smart, hilarious and entirely inappropriate. It was also axed when Nandos, which is based in South Africa, was threatened with a boycott and other unspecified actions by a youth group loyal to Zimbabwean dictator come president, Robert Mugabe.
(Mugabe is the head of a nation of contrasts, simultaneously hated and loved by many for taking land away from white Zimbabwean farmers amongst other actions. He is also the world’s oldest head of state at the age of 92).
The ad begins with Mugabe setting an immense dining table for several guests. He places a card with Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi’s name on it, and recalling the downfall of his good friend, gazes forlornly into the distance as he remembers happier times.
(Mugabe did condemn the death of Gaddafi, a year after he was killed, in 2012, during a speech to the UN General Assembly. “NATO was operating supposedly in order to protect civilians”, he noted sarcastically- considering the growing instability in the region, he wasn’t wrong on that count).
The two formally-dressed grown men frolic about, squirting each other with water guns. Gaddafi of course is equipped with a depiction of his signature golden gun.
Mugabe is next seen making sand angels with Saddam Hussein.
Next he is seen pushing South African former president P.W. Botha, who reigned in the apartheid era, on a swing. He would playfully steal Botha’s hat, which later gets returned. This perhaps points out the official policy disagreement between the two in terms of supporting white or black Africans, while both were overwhelmingly similar in their use of nationalism to sanction atrocities.
Botha’s years as head of South Africa were the most brutal when compared to his predecessors. Thousands were detained without trial, and many were tortured and killed.
Finally, there is a Titanic reenactment with Ugandan dictator Idi Amin on a tank.
Amin’s title is perhaps the longest in the world: “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.”
Amin was not “president for life” in real life because he was exiled in 1979, and stayed in Libya for a year before moving to Saudi Arabia where he was granted sanctuary, and paid a substantial sum for staying out of politics. He would later attempt to return to Uganda and die in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.
“This time of year, no one should have to eat alone,” concludes the ad.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Quartz, BBC
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