Kazakhstan Uses Borat’s Line “Very Nice!” For Its Tourism Campaign

• Kazakhstan recently released a new tourism campaign using the catchphrase “very nice” repeatedly throughout the clip.
• The leaders in Kazakhstan were furious after the release of the first Borat film, in which the country was portrayed as homophobic, sexist, and anti-Semitic.
• The government now wants tourists to see that Borat’s home country is nicer than what people generally know.

There was a time when officials in Kazakhstan were pissed at Sacha Baron Cohen for his character in the 2006 film Borat, in which the country was portrayed as homophobic, sexist, and anti-Semitic nation.

Now these officials are singing a different tune, making use of the movie and the fictional character Borat’s notoriety for the country’s tourism efforts. They are actually using Borat’s catchprase “Very nice!” as a campaign slogan.

Kazakhstan recently released a new tourism campaign which shows tourists visiting several sites in the country.

The catchphrase “very nice” was mentioned repeatedly throughout the clip.

Kairat Sadvakassov, deputy chairman of Kazakh Tourism, said that “very nice” perfectly describes the tourism potential of the country.

“[Very nice] offers the perfect description of Kazakhstan’s vast tourism potential in a short, memorable way,” said Sadvakassov.

He explained that they would like people to visit in 2021 and experience Kazakhstan for themselves. They want tourists to see that Borat’s home country is nicer than what people generally know.

The leaders in Kazakhstan were furious after the release of the first Borat film, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

The country was portrayed as a place where women are forbidden to drive cars and its people are “running Jews,” a celebration in which people kick “an egg laid by a Jew.”

Borat was also shown to drink what he referred to as traditional Kazakh wine, which was supposedly made out of fermented horse urine.

The outrage was such that the Kazakhstani government had ads run in American newspapers to protest the way the country was portrayed to the world.

Despite this, the number of foreign visitors in Kazakhstan actually increased dramatically after the movie’s release. This even prompted Yerzhan Kazykhanov, the country’s foreign minister, to thank Borat for “helping to attract tourists to Kazakhstan.”

A second Borat film has been released last October 23, 2020.