Robert Mugabe stars in Nando's "Last Dictator Standing" advertisement, in which the long-time despot reminisces about happier days shared with fallen dictators around the world.

Muammar Gaddafi brandishing a water pistol, Chairman Mao singing karaoke and Saddam Hussein frolicking in his underwear all lend this politically-charged advert a sense of surrealism and dark comedy.

The minute-long clip ends with a voice-over saying "No one should ever eat alone," and advertising Nando's six-pack spicy chicken meal.

"The sight of Mugabe eating chicken alone, with his dictator pals all gone, is surely a sobering reminder of the human cost of war," reports The Week.

It isn't the first controversial advert to be produced by Nando's South Africa. In October, the restaurant responded to the suspension of Julius Malema from the African national Congress with a tongue-in-cheek ad stating: "Juju, you've been served."

In Pictures: Other Controversial Nando's Adverts

Following the passing of the South African Protection of the State Information Bill earlier this week (referred to as the "secrecy bill" and widely condemned as limiting freedom of expression), Nando's launched a campaign showing a poster with blacked-out words.

"Dear journalists, if you ever run out of things to write about, you can always tell people about our flame-grilled, 24-hour marinated, Peri-Peri chicken," the poster proclaims.

The restaurant also produced a video during the Islamic month of Ramadan depicting a man waiting for the sun to go down before being able to bite into a piece of marinated chicken wing.

"Needless to say Nando's ads have been the centre of some heated topics of conversation. We've also won a lot of advertising awards along the way and they've been fantastic!" said a statement on the Nando's website.

South Africa