"We asked ourselves what would happen if anyone outside of South Africa caught the tail end of the fact that in South Africa, we eat russians (sausages)," says Marcelle Pienaar, group marketing manager at Eskort.

"Capturing this fictitious, widely shared misunderstanding was used to tickle South Africa's funny bone by holding the mirror up for us to see what we often accept as common language or ideas, for what they really are: uniquely local," adds Pienaar.

The brand says that its russian conversation series is the latest in a line of South African content. On Wednesday, 4 August, a video started making the rounds. In it, a Russian is seen reacting to a  'focus group video' where excited South Africans respond to the staged question, 'So how do you feel about eating russians?'

In the video, South Africans share how much they love and enjoy eating russians: deep-fried, boiled, microwaved and chopped in half. Unfortunately, a Russian vlogger finds the video and, without context, he believes he's looking at South Africans boasting about eating Russians. He goes crazy and tries to involve world leaders and the international media.

Before long, the general public is being interviewed about the controversy by Russian and Chinese 'news outlets' and in a series of spoof street interviews people from around the world respond to the misunderstanding.

Eventually, the story ends up on the highest desk in the land … the Russian president. This is followed by 'Putin' being briefed by his council on the developing story, the video shows the Russian president reaching for the big red button, promising 'pay back' for the Russians who suffered this unimaginable fate.

This campaign aims to give voice and context to the latest Eskort TV commercial. The ad was shown on television screens for the first time on Wednesday, 11 August on eTV between and SABC1.

Viewers are encouraged to watch Coconut Kelz on the special episode of Who Got Chowed on Youtube, as she personally visits the Russian president to clear up this misunderstanding. 

"We South Africans have always had the ability to laugh at ourselves. It's part of what makes us unique. As one of South Africa's most loved brands, enjoyed every day across this country by people and families from every walk of life, we love celebrating what connects us," concludes Marcelle.

For more information, visit www.eskort.com. You can also follow Eskort on Facebook or on Instagram