(Image Source: UKZambians)

BY IRIS ZHANG

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource global news analysis from Newsy.com.

Water-gun fight. Frolicking on sand. Playing on a swing. Sounds like the good old days? But wait, when it features Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, these boyish pranks may become a little ticklish.

South Africa fast-food chain Nando’s released this ad called “Last Dictator Standing.”

In the ad, a Zimbabwean president look-alike pined for his old dictator friends while having holiday dinner alone. At the closing,  a voice-over says “No one should ever have to dine alone, so get a Nando’s six-pack meal for six.”

The ad has gained nearly half a million hits on YouTube. Some appreciate the way the restaurant approaches global news events with humour.

“It’s one of those rare ads that’s both laugh out loud funny and deeply resonant in a year in which we have seen so many dictators tumble, latter-day Humpty Dumpties, from their walls.”

Besides its trendiness, TIME says the ad also highlights a sad fact, pointing out Mugabe and Gaddafi were at one time good friends and business partners.

“In later years, Mugabe disagreed with Gaddafi’s openness to Western investment — but who’s to say that before things went sour, they never frolicked in a garden together, then repaired to Mugabe’s house for some chicken?”

Nando’s is notorious for its controversial ads that mirror current affairs. Some critiques say this new one - may have gone too far. Fast Company writes...

“Typically, there has to be a good reason to joke about the un-joke-aboutable. In this case, the reason is a six-pack of Nando’s chicken. The subject matter and the product may simply be too unappetizing even for those who find the ad funny.”

According to the AP, Mugabe loyalists regard the ad as an insult to Mugabe and are calling for a boycott of Nando’s.