Kazakhstan has adopted Borat's "Very nice!" catchphrase as its own, effectively reclaiming what used to be a thorn in its side.

The former republic under the Soviet Union bloc had tried hard to distance itself from the first Borat movie 14 years ago.

It went as far as take out a four-page advertisement in The New York Times defending the country’s honour and threatened to sue Borat's creator, Sacha Baron Cohen, due to his unflattering satirical depiction of the country.

The 2006 first movie drew the ire of Kazakh officials, who likely felt attacked by the portrayals of the Kazakh as incestuous and anti-Semitic.

Embracing slogan in 2020

Instead of denouncing the second Borat movie, which just came out on Oct. 23, 2020, the tourism ministry of Kazakhstan has decided to roll with the punches.

Speaking to NYT, Kairat Sadvakassov, the deputy chairman of Kazakhstan’s tourism board, explained the reason behind the U-turn.

"In Covid times, when tourism spending is on hold, it was good to see the country mentioned in the media,’ he told NYT.

"Not in the nicest way, but it’s good to be out there."

NYT reported that the tourism board was "determined to avoid overreacting" and letting Cohen make it look foolish once again.

Promo worked

Sadvakassov confessed that the tourism board’s initial instinct was to "let it die its natural death and not respond".

But they were sold by the efforts of Dennis Keen, a former exchange student from the United States who settled in Kazakhstan.

Keen and a colleague, Yermek Utemissov, produced the four short videos, about 12 seconds each, that feature locals commenting on the "very nice" offerings of the country.

Kazakhstan is globalised

Utemissov told NYT that times have changed since 2006.

This time around, he wasn’t worried that his fellow citizens would get mad.

“It’s a newer generation,” he said.

“They’ve got Twitter, they’ve got Instagram, they’ve got Reddit, they know English, they know memes. They get it. They’re inside the media world. We’re looking at the same comedians, the same Kimmel show. Kazakhstan is globalised.”

Cohen issues statement

Cohen issued a short statement in response to Kazakhstan's reversal of attitude by embracing the franchise this second outing.

Cohen said via a statement by email to NYT.

“This is a comedy, and the Kazakhstan in the film has nothing to do with the real country,” he wrote.

“I chose Kazakhstan because it was a place that almost nobody in the U.S. knew anything about, which allowed us to create a wild, comedic, fake world. The real Kazakhstan is a beautiful country with a modern, proud society — the opposite of Borat’s version.”

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is out now on Amazon Prime video.

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