Nando's drop Colonel Gaddafi advert over threats

Nando's have pulled a controversial advert that featured Colonel Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe due to threats to staff.
The advert, aired in South Africa, contained lookalikes of deceased despots Saddam Hussein and Colonel Gaddafi as well as South African apartheid leader P W Botha and former Ugandan president Idi Amin. The 'Last dicator standing' short caused uproar in Zimbabwe where the "political reaction" and threats to staff have forced the ad to be dropped.

"Nando’s South Africa takes these threats very seriously and will regrettably no longer flight the TV commercial," a spokeswoman said. "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."

The advert opens with a Robert Mugabe lookalike wistfully picking up a Colonel Gaddafi place card from an empty dinner table. In a dream sequence he is then met by the deceased Libyan dictator who starts a waterfight with a golden AK-47. Mugabe is then seen with PW Botha and Idi Amin, in which a scene from Titanic is recreated.

Nando's South Africa is well known for controversial adverts which have frequently commented on political situations. The firm gave a tongue-in-cheek response to the expulsion of Julius Malema from the African National Congress, releasing an advert which stated "Juju, you've been served". The firm also responded to the South African Protection of the State Information Bill (referred to as the "secrecy bill") by releasing an advert with blacked out words- parodying censorship in the media.

A Nando's UK spokeswoman earlier confirmed that there are no plans to bring to advert to the UK.