If you'd never heard of Kazakhstan before you heard of this guy, don't feel ashamed - I hadn't either. In fact, even in the 2000s many of the Former Soviet Union countries are unknown to most people and clouded in some sort of mystery. Sacha Baron Cohen made use of this ignorance and created his film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Released in 2006, it was a critical and commercial success, even being nominated for an Oscar (!?). However, it appears that the Kazakhstani's themselves have mixed feelings about it all.
Even before the film was released, Borat was featured on the Ali G Show, and managed to gain the negative attention of Kazakhstan's officials. In 2005, Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry threatened to sue Baron Cohen for portraying the country in a "derogatory way." In 2006, prior to the release of the film, Borat acted as the host of MTV's Europe Music Awards and behaved in a manner again caught the attention of Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry. They released a statement, read by the Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev told a news conference: "We view Mr. Cohen's behaviour at the MTV Europe Music Awards as utterly unacceptable, being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is completely incompatible with the ethics and civilized behaviour of Kazakhstan's people."
Here is how Borat responded.
Once the movie itself was released, Kazakhstan responded to the negative publicity by launching a so called PR blitz - videos, advertisements and infomercials presenting Kazakhstan as The Heart of Eurasia.
It would appear that in this case, the old saying there's no such thing as bad publicity* is as true as ever. After all this, Kazakhstan actually started having tourists! Borat - though controversial - put Kazakhstan on the world map of the trendy traveler (note, trendy in 06/07). According to Kenzhebay Satzhanov, deputy chairman in Kazakhstan's tourism and sports ministry, "It [the movie] was free of charge advertising and lots of people want to come and see our country...The rise (in tourists was) maybe not so huge like we expected but in any case we saw interest."
In fact, both Satzhanov and the deputy Foreign Minister Rakhat Aliyev invited Sacha Baron Cohen to visit Kazakhstan and found out what it's really like. Apparently, he has yet to take them up on the offer.
What is most interesting to me about this case, is that it shows how important the the country's brand is to Kazakhstan's officials. I doubt that Austria will launch a campaign to straighten up the presumptions people may have after Baron Cohen's new film - Brüno.
SOURCES:
- Kazakhstan Not Laughing at Ali G http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=1315240
- Bush to hold talks on Ali G creator after diplomatic row http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-404852/Bush-hold-talks-Ali-G-creator-diplomatic-row.html
- Borat boosts tourism in Kazakhstan http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,26058,24644937-5014090,00.html
- Starmer-Smith, Charles. Borat brings a tourist boom to Kazakhstan http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/travel/charlesstarmer-smith/3666861/Borat_brings_a_tourist_boom_to_Kazakhstan/
- Fletcher, Phyllis. Kazakhstan Embassy Responds to Borat http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6276973
* The actual quote is by Brendan Behan, and goes There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.
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