BREAKING. Nando's tells arrogant Generations boss after firing the SABC soap's cast: 'Dear Mfundi, leave the firing to us!'

The South African fast food chain Nando's has been quick to cash in on the shock and scandal swirling around the SABC and Generations after the principal cast of the soap was fired on Monday for striking.

"Dear Mfundi leave the firing to us," says Nando's in a new ad, taking a stab at the often-arrogant Mfundi Vundla, executive producer of Generations who showed the 16 cast members the door yesterday.

"We've been flame grilling for generations," says Nando's in a pun.

WHERE ARE YOU ALL GOING? Nando's makes the news - literally - by using Mariëtta Kruger and people dashing for parliament's doors.

Nando's latest video advert employs news studio footage of famed newswoman Mariëtta Kruger - her voice dubbed - with images of parliamentarians all in a mad dash for the door, as they flee the apparently terrible food in the hallowed halls of South Africa's parliament.

"Today in parliament there was an uproar when it was suggested the national assembly order anything other than the Nando's full pack meal," starts the ad with a voice-over over the image of Mariëtta Kruger as if she's reading the news once again on television as she once really did for years on the SABC.

The voice however is clearly not hers.

Then there's footage of a massive number of people heading for the door and filing out of the benches as a perplexed would-be speaker or chairperson keeps monotonously asking: "Where are you all going? Where are you all going?"

BREAKING. Stuff it MultiChoice, says Nando's who won't run its advertising on DStv anymore; Nando's says its upset with how MultiChoice handled it all.

Now it's Nando's turn to tell MultiChoice to take a hike, with the chicken fast food chain - extremely upset with how the pay TV platform dealt with the issue of suddenly yanking its anti-xenophobia "Diversity" TV commercial off the air - saying it definitely won't be advertising on MultiChoice's DStv channels.

Nando's is upset with the way in which MultiChoice handled the matter. Three weeks ago the SABC suddenly decided not to broadcast Nando's booked new "Diversity" TV advert. Whilst MultiChoice showed the ad for 4 days, MultiChoice suddenly followed the SABC and instituted a self-imposed ban on Nando's advert. e.tv followed.

Civil society and public freedom of speech pressure groups severly criticised MultiChoice, the SABC and e.tv and slammed South Africa's broadcasters for not wanting to show the ad which addresses the vexing issue of intolerance towards non-native South Africans.

Then On Digital Media (ODM) announced on Wednesday that Nando's approached them and that Nando's TV commercial will be shown across multiple TV channels on TopTV from Thursday. A day later, today, MultiChoice suddenly announced that the pay TV platform has lifted its self-imposed "suspension" of Nando's ad and that it would "reinstate the flighting of the commercial shortly".

Not so fast, says Nando's. Nando's says MultiChoice won't get its money again or be asked to show the TV commercial.

Nando's says it is upset with the way in which MultiChoice dealth with the issue and that MultiChoice won't be approached again to show its commercial on DStv channels and that Nando's is of the believe that MultiChoice only reversed course becauase TopTV agreed to start showing the advert from Thursday.

BREAKING. Nando's banned Diversity TV commercial to be shown on TopTV in South Africa across multiple TV channels from Thursday.

I was told last night by sources that Nando's banned TV commercial with its anti-xenophobia message which was taken off by MultiChoice's DStv and M-Net and removed by e.tv after being banned by the SABC as well, is returning to television and will be shown on On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV channels.

TopTV took the decision to be the broadcaster and platform to return the TV advert to the South African airwaves after meetings with Nando's media agency, The MediaShop, to provide a broadcast platform for the advert on television. The advert on YouTube has gone viral the past three weeks with hundreds of thousands of views.

Nando's Diversity TV ad will now be seen on TopTV from tomorrow (Thursday) on multiple TopTV channels, including Top One, Top Movies, Top Movies +2, Top Movies +24, Top History, Top explore, Top Crime, Top Gospel and the Afrikaans TV channel ASTV.

"We are a young yet highly competitive player in the pay TV space in South Africa," says Jean Meyer, the vice president for airtime sales of TopTV. "As such, we are prepared to push the envelope and use our platform to promote freedom of expression and to encourage debate and conversation among our diverse subscriber base."

TopTV's Top One channel also brought the ZA News satirical puppet news show back to South African television last year. "We applaud Nando's for tackling often thorny, South African issues by giving them a satirical twist," says TopTV. "The positive message contained in the advert with the line 'real South Africans love diversity' is a sentiment that all South Africans should embrace," says Jean Meyer.

BREAKING. Nando's fiery new poster targets the SABC after Isidingo burns down two weeks after the SABC banned Nando's TV ad.

"Sorry SABC. We know how much you hate fire starters." Those are the words from Nando's fiery new poster ad Nando's advertising agency whipped up in record-time today after a blazing fire which raged out of control for more than 3 hours last night took SABC3 off the air for a while and decimated Studio 6 at Henley Studios  at the SABC and incinerated the Isidingo set.

Two weeks ago the SABC (followed by MultiChoice's DStv and e.tv) banned Nando's new "Diversity" anti-xenophobia TV commercial. "Pity you can't ban them all," Nando's says in the new poster ad, clearly hinting at both incidents - the SABC banning Nando's and the fire which swept through the SABC and caused tens of millions of rands of damage.

"We'd like to make it clear that we had nothing to do with this. We prefer igniting public debate, not studios," says the Nando's in the print ad.

BREAKING. SABC refuses to broadcast Nando's new TV commercial which questions xenophobia.

The SABC is refusing to broadcast Nando's new TV commercial which questions xenophobia, with South Africa's public broadcaster which has declined the fast-food chicken chain's new TV advert which was to start on SABC2 this past Friday.

The new TV advert from Nando's which is against xenophobia and part of the company's "Diversity Campaign" will not be seen on the SABC after the public broadcaster suddenly decided that it will not show the ad.

In the new ad, all groups of people start disappearing in puffs of smoke who "originally" were not in or from South Africa. It's basically everyone. All that's left in the end is a Khoisan man who says, "I'm not going anywhere. You *$&!@#* found us here".

"Real South Africans love diversity," says the Nando's ad at the end and which the SABC refuses to show. "That's why we've introduced two more items."

With the new TV commercial Nando's wants to address the issue of xenophobia through also advertising new products, whilst calling on South Africa's to embrace diversity. The Nando's commercial has already gone viral with more than 90 000 views on YouTube since Friday.

Here is the full Nando's TV commercial:

BREAKING. Chicken? Nando's pulling their hilarious ''Last dictator standing'' TV commercial after pressure.

The Nando's fast food chicken chain is pulling their simply hilarious ''Last dictator standing'' TV advert after pressure, and fear that Nando's employees in Zimbabwe could be assaulted or worse after threats following the very funny caricature in the commercial that's clearly Zimbabwe's old and ailing despot Robert Mugabe.

Chipangano, a Zimbabwean militant youth group loyal to Robert Mugabe has urged people to boycott the restaurant chain, according to Zimbabwean state radio and Nando's has decided to pull the TV commercial. ''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,'' Nando's said in a statement today.

Of course the TV commercial has already gone viral globally.



The funny commercial starts with what is clearly a lonely Robert Mugabe sitting at a Christmas table all alone, then thinking back at all the ''fun times'' he's had with some of the world's biggest dictators. Robert Mugabe thinks back to water-gun fights with Muammar Gaddafi, making sand angels on the beach with Saddam Hussein, singing karaoke with Chairman Mao, and playing on the swings with South Africa's notorious P.W. Botha. With Uganda's Idi Amin they stand on a tank (instead of the bow of the Titanic) in a scene reminiscent of Jack and Rose in Titanic.

The wonderful TV ad is set to Mary Hopkin's nostalgic 1960s song "Those were the days my friend'' and a voice-over exclaims: "This time of year, no one should have to eat alone. So get a Nando's six-pack meal for six.''

Nando's South Africa says about ''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 takes these threats very seriously and will regrettably no longer flight the TV commercial as part of our festive season campaign.''