Zinhle Mapumulo

Zinhle Mapumulo

Nando's has buckled under pressure from the ANC Youth League. The Portuguese chicken outlet is set to withdraw its latest election adverts which poke fun at the ANCYL president Julius Malema within 24 hours.

The move comes after the league called for the immediate withdrawal of Nando's "disgusting" TV and radio ads on Tuesday. The organisation further threatened to take "militant and legal" action against Nando's if the need arises.

In a meeting between the parties in Johannesburg yesterday, Nando's agreed to pull the adverts. The league has welcomed the decision.

Its national spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said: "We expressed our concern over the advertisements and requested Nando's to promptly withdraw them from television and radio channels.

"The league strongly believes in freedom of expression and creativity which respects other people and organisations," he said.

The "Julius" advert was first aired on TV on April 18. Since then it has created a lot of hype. Sowetan published a story on Tuesday in which Malema said he was not offended by the advert but wanted Nando's to pay him royalties for using him to sell their product.

The following day he changed his tune, saying he now felt the adverts were racist and in bad taste. His change of heart had been influenced by the ANCYL's reaction to the article. Nando's was then ordered to withdraw the ads.

Last night Nando's confirmed the adverts would be withdrawn by today.

"But we are currently working on another one expected to be aired today. It will focus on issues raised by the league," said Nando's marketing manager Sylvester Chauke.