Asambe Nono makes women abuse a no-no

13 Mar 2018

Asambe Nono is a well-known South African football song. The lyrics suggestively say, "Let's go, my baby, let's go and sleep."

But when the #NoExcuse female choir sang Asambe Nono just before kick-off in front of 85,000 people at the PSL game between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates on 3 March, the words took the massive crowd by surprise.

As part of the #NoExcuse campaign against women abuse, which is backed by Carling Black Label, the lyrics were changed to tell the all-too-common story of a South African woman being abused by her partner when he comes home under the influence from a soccer match which his team has lost. The chorus said there was no excuse for women abuse.

The revised lyrics were carried live on the big screen at FNB Stadium and the choir’s performance was televised on SABC and SuperSport, with commentators primed to explain the meaning behind this unique intervention to their millions of viewers.

VP Marketing ABInbev Africa Andrea Quaye says: “When we launched #NoExcuse last year with a Men’s March and a major television commercial, we vowed to follow through and continue to drive positive change. The Soweto derby was an obvious place to make a powerful statement to so many men, and this was an emotive and impactful way to do just that.”

Tseliso Rangaka from Ogilvy South Africa, the lead agency on the campaign, says, “This was an enormously complex execution involving the client, multiple agencies, the choir, both teams, FNB Stadium management, the SABC, the PSL and SuperSport, and we are all incredibly proud of the outcome – this was an original and highly relevant way to land this important message.”