Nando’s vs MTN
Feathers are flying as South African cellphone giant MTN and the fast-food chain Nando’s clash over a multimillion-rand advertising campaign.
Do the phrases “Y’ello Summer” and “Yello’ Hummer” sound remarkably similar?
Of course they do, and the similarity has sparked an angry submission by MTN to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to get Nando’s to stop running its copycat advertising.
On Friday Nando’s received the complaint, lodged with the ASA, in regard to its competition in which the prize is a “Yello’ Hummer”, in an obvious spoof of MTN’s Y’ello Summer advertising.
MTN claims its total advertising spend on its Y’ello branding and Y’ello Summer campaign since 2003 has been R433-million, R105-million of which was spent this year.
The R433-million to build the brand has been “negated” by Nando’s recent promotion, it claimed.
It all started when Nando’s was given a yellow Hummer for a promotion it planned, and the colour gave it the idea to parody MTN ads.
The ads, which use the MTN yellow and use words like “top up”, are clearly meant to resemble MTN ads.
The Nando’s campaign could also be seen to have a strong resemblance to the successful “Cell C Hummer Hummer” campaign, but it appears that MTN’s cellphone rival Cell C has not complained.
This is not the first time that Nando’s, which cultivates a jokey image, has done something of this sort.
As Nando’s marketing director Paul Appleton said: “We have even parodied ourselves in the Wando’s ads.” Other well- known parodies included ads that mimicked Verimark ads. Appleton said Nando’s had even parodied Madiba.
The MTN-like ads appear at all Nando’s outlets nationally, as well as on radio.
In a lengthy submission to the ASA, MTN said the Yello’ Hummer promotion is running at the same time — November to January — as the Y’ello Summer campaign traditionally runs.
It objects to the use of the colour yellow, the word Yello’, the use of “everywhere you go”, “top up” and “real deal”, as well as a similar jingle to its own, among other things.
Its complaint relates to exploitation of advertising goodwill and imitation.
According to MTN, it sent a letter of demand on November 27 and got a response from Nando’s attorneys and that Nando’s “refused to give the undertakings requested in the letter of demand”.
MTN had tried to resolve the issue amicably, but failed, although Appleton said Nando’s had offered to meet MTN.
One of Nando’s defences is that the ad is intended to amuse and is permissible in terms of the ASA code as parody.
But MTN said in its submission, “On the contrary, Nando’s is not in the business of amusing people. It is a commercial fast- food retail outlet.”
In fact, according to MTN, the promotion is simply not funny. “Furthermore, parody cannot be relied on as a defence in circumstances where the Nando’s promotion is devoid of humour. No clever wit, amusing punchline or anecdote can be found in the Nando’s promotion,” it said.
MTN claims the promotion will result in a loss of potential advertising value and “dilute the distinctiveness of MTN’s advertising”.
Appleton said Nando’s advertising has always pushed boundaries but stayed within rules.
He said Nando’s could not resist offering a yellow Hummer as a prize in its summer campaign. “The concept was briefed into the agency and it was irresistible!” The ad “pokes affectionate fun at the battle for ownership of summer”, he said.
He said Nando’s pioneered tactical advertising and “has placed its brand signature on parodies. Consumers understand parody, and we believe that they respect brands that get the humour too.
“The nature of Nando’s campaigns has always been to amuse, and although its advertisements often contains parodies [of other advertisers], it is not Nando’s intention to disparage any competitor or advertiser.”
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