The advertising battle between two of South Africa’s chicken giants continues.

I have made no secret of my admiration for Chicken Licken and their proudly South African adverts (case in point), but there’s no denying that Nando’s can also smash it out of the park.

Their #YouPeople advert, which we featured yesterday, is another instant classic, and it looked like they’d be taking the plaudits, but then Chicken Licken released their new advert.

Titled “The Legend of Big John”, it’s a gem. Do enjoy:

In case you didn’t really pay attention in history class, Marklives reporting below:

The film focuses on a young man called Big Mjohnana, who leaves his village at the tip of Africa to satisfy his hunger for adventure. The audience follows his epic journey as he sails across the ocean and encounters countless obstacles that he overcomes easily, reaching an unexpected conclusion as he discovers a foreign land in 1651.

He finds a bewildered Jan van Riebeeck and his crew as they are loading cargo onto their three ships (the Dromedaris, Reijger and Goede Hoop) before they embark on their voyage (they left The Netherlands in 1651 and settled in what is today Cape Town in 1652).

“The Big John campaign is a continuation on the successful themes we’ve started to build for Chicken Licken, where we strive to put South Africans at the fore — creating a sense of pride and patriotism. Just like the film, we’re turning things on their head, putting South Africa on top of the world map. The concept is a metaphor for life that shows, if you want something badly enough, nothing or no one can stand in your way. All this is brought to life through the usual quirky type of humour we’ve come to expect from Chicken Licken,” says Martin Schlumpf, Joe Public creative director.

Perhaps we should just say that both Nando’s and Chicken Licken are winners, and everyone involved in their respective recent adverts deserves a pat on the back.

Where’s the fun in that, though?

[source:marklives]