Kazakhstan gets the joke, woos tourists
Ridiculed once again in a film featuring fictional Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev, the ex-Soviet state of Kazakhstan has embraced the joke this time round and adopted Borat’s catch phrase to try to attract tourists.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan , a follow-up to a 2006 film featuring the same sexist and racist character, was released last week.
Like the first film, it has Borat on the rampage in the US, where he tries to trick politicians and others into letting their guard down.
Borat’s first outing caused anger in Kazakhstan, where authorities threatened legal action over what they saw as an insult to their national character. This time round, they have adopted Borat’s catch phrase, “Very Nice!”, to try to promote tourism in the vast Central Asian country.
In a slick video released by the tourism board featuring mountains and lakes and futuristic-looking cityscapes, a series of foreign tourists use the catch phrase to signal their appreciation for what they are seeing.
Kairat Sadvakassov, deputy chairman of Kazakh Tourism, said he hoped the campaign would help people see that Borat’s jokes about the country were off target.
“We would like everyone to come and experience Kazakhstan for themselves by visiting our country in 2021 and beyond, so that they can see that Borat’s homeland is nicer than they may have heard,” he said.