Sangoma

10 February 10 Categories: Laugh it Off

Zuma at the SEXPO

18 May 09 Categories: Laugh it Off

ANC speaks out on Zuma shower Gel

7 May 09 Categories: Laugh it Off

Interview: Dieketseng Maleke from the Times online speaking to ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu regarding Zuma Shower Gel.

Prez JZ in Waiting – ZUMA Shower Gel

6 May 09 Categories: Laugh it Off

Prez JZ uses Zuma Shower Gel to feel presidential. Shouldn’t you?

Being President is an attitude.

Being President is doing what you want.

Being President is brandishing an AK47.

Being President is doing who you want.

Being President is a crime.

Wash away your troubles with the revitalising Zuma Shower Gel from Laugh it Off. Available at Big Blue stores countrywide.

ANC Spokesman Jessie Duarte buys Zuma Shower Gel – Sunday Times

4 May 09 Categories: Laugh it Off

It

THE ANC is unhappy with Justin Nurse’s bathroom product called Zuma Shower Gel, which pokes fun at ANC president Jacob Zuma. ANC spokesman Jessie Duarte says the party is considering legal action against Laugh It Off, the small company famed for winning a lengthy court battle against SA Breweries four years ago overthe right to use a T-shirt spoofing their Black Label beer label.

“We have instituted a complaint through our legal people,” says Jesse, who bought the shower gel when she heard about it to hand over to the party’s lawyers. ,

She says the product is derogatory and Laugh lt Off did not seek permission from Zuma to use his name. But she does not want to comment  further on either the shower gel or a YouTube video featuring the product.  ”l did not want to undermine the election campaign by making this an issue when it is not.”

Justin, the founder of Laugh It Off, is “ecstatic” that the ANC is considering legal action against his company. “We can’t wait. Bring it on. Laugh It Off loves a good  legal battle,”  he says.

Jane Dun can, executive director  of the The Freedom of expression Institute, says any move by the ANC to sue Laugh lt Off would be “worrying”, particularly in the wake of the SABC’s “rescheduling” of a Special Assignment programme on political satire and the fact that Zuma is suing cartoonist Zapiro for defamation for his “Rape of Justice” cartoon.

“lf Nurse is now going to run into legal problems, then l think we need to ask ourselves whether we are   going to enjoy freedom of expression under a Zuma presidency,” she says.

She does not regard the You’l'ube video as defamatory. “Frankly, if Zuma’s reputation has been hurt in the eyes of society, then it is not by Justin Nurse, but by his own actions,” says Jane, adding that she is concerned about growing hostility towards political satire.

A defamation law specialist at attorneys Webber Wentzel, Dario Milo, doesn’t believe the product can be considered defamatory.

He says South African defamation law gives a g eat degree of protection to satirical commentary on politicians. “What is required is that the underlying facts upon which the satirical remarks are based must be true or at least reasonably true. In the case of the Zuma Shower Gel, the product itself is not objectionable in light of Zuma’s testimony in court, and most of the text accompanying the video of Zuma taking a shower seems to me to be defensible- with the exception of ‘Being President is a crime’.”

Dario believes that though Laugh It Offs YouTube video featuring a naked black man showering is “graphic and offensive”, it is “probably” protected under the law of defamation.

But Russell Norton, an attorney specialising in intellectual property at attorneys Spoor and Fisher, believes that though the shower gel may escape litigation, the video has “gone toofar”. He says where parody of a public figure is involved, the defence against an action for defamation would be that the

statement is true and for the public benefit, or that it is fair comment on a matter of public interest

He says while the Zuma Shower Gel may be a clear parody of Zuma, he believes it will be difficult for anyone to raise the  defence of “true and for the public benefit or fair comment”  on a matter of public interest where the satire or parody is aimed almost entirely at “belittling or humiliating” a public figure.”

Ngaa Murombedzi, a store assistant at  Big Blue in Montecasino, says the shower gel  has been selling “very well” since the store began stocking it late last year.

Get some slippery soap

6 April 09 Categories: Laugh it Off

Article by Sue Segar first appeared in the The Witness 03 Apr 2009

Do you ever get the urge to feel presidential? If so, then maybe you’re a candidate for a bottle of Zuma Shower Gel, the latest offering from the irreverent Laugh it Off team.

Best known for their reputation as “shirt-stirrers” for their controversial T-shirts spoofing South African individuals and companies, Laugh it Off have come up with a shower gel ahead of this month’s national elections.

“It sells for about R80 and is made in association with the Cape-based company, Aromatic Apothecary. It works really well and smells like After Eight Mints,” said Laugh it Off proprietor Justin Nurse in an interview with The Witness this week.

Nurse said the collaboration came about when Laugh it Off and Aromatic Apothecary – which manufactures homeopathic soaps and other products – found themselves alongside each other in their product stalls at the Grahamstown Festival.

“We were selling T-shirts at the festival. For a few years, we have been selling next to them. We suggested they test a co-branding project and that we should try a Zuma shower gel,” said Nurse.

The idea took root and two months later, the product was on the shelves of the Big Blue Stores in Gauteng and the Cape. In Durban, a shop called Mooi is stocking the gel. Nurse said Big Blue has, so far, sold about 800 bottles.

The gel is advertised as being “for all skin types”.

Laugh it Off has already produced a Zuma T-shirt featuring the same logo as the gel.

Asked whether he has had any response from Zuma supporters, Nurse said: “Yes, when we launched the Zuma T-shirt, we received a phone call from someone from the ANC Youth League who said we should not be doing this. We ignored the call.”

Asked whether he has sent Zuma a bottle of Zuma shower gel, Nurse said, “No”. However, he will send Zuma a copy of the picture depicting the ANC leader which will be used in Laugh it Off’s “Corpowit Calendar”.

“It should ruffle a few feathers, no doubt,” was all Nurse would say.

Nurse, who was born in Cape Town and studied Journalism and Politics at Rhodes University, started producing satirical T-shirts that spoofed famous brands while he was still at university.

The enterprise resulted in the establishment of Laugh it Off. The company made the headlines in 2001 when SAB Miller slapped a lawsuit against it, claiming that Laugh It Off’s parody of the Black Label beer brand was an infringement of its trademark. The offending T-shirt had altered the beer’s slogan “Black Label, Carling Beer” to read: “Black Labour, White Guilt”.

After a lengthy battle that went all the way to the Constitutional Court, Laugh It Off won its case in 2005. The Constitutional Court found Nurse’s T-shirts were satirical and his right to freedom of speech outweighed the SA Breweries trade mark.

Ever the controversialist, Nurse made waves when his case was being heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein and he was caught having his photograph taken behind the chief justice’s chair.

He then put his picture up among those of the judges in the Constitutional Court – placing his photograph next to that of retired judge Richard Goldstone. His photograph remained in place for a few days before being discovered by a security guard.

Laugh it Off has also published a collection of poetry by Kgafela oa Magogodi as well as the popular Laugh It Off Annuals, which feature graphic design, short stories, poetry, cartoons, as well as interviews, photography, and articles from established literary figures.

Nurse said Laugh it Off is also producing a calendar that spoofs Zuma, Julius Malema, SAA and Telkom, among other South African infamous icons.

They have also shot a viral video, he said. “We are also working on a new Laugh it Off Annual, as well as a book on 2010 for FNB.”

Laugh it Off is also currently working on a second Zuma T-shirt, which features Zuma as a ninja turtle. The calendars will be available ahead of the elections at the same outlets as the gel.

Zuma Shower Gel – Feel presidential

17 November 08 Categories: Laugh it Off

Available at all Big Blue and Kitsch&Cool stores.

View Store details here