Borat Damage Control: Kazakhstan Takes Out 4-Page Times Ad

It may sound suspiciously like just another viral marketing campaign to hype a film before its release, but it appears this oddly-timed ad series is legit.

In advance of the November 1 release of Borat, the government of Kazakhstan has taken out a four-page advertising section in today’s New York Times, Editor & Publisher reports.

It comes as Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev is about to meet with President Bush, starting today. The ad kicks off with a large photo of the two men shaking hands at the White House in 2001. The costly ad supplement, which appears in the middle of the Times’ first section, makes no mention of Borat or the movie.

The Borat character — the brainchild of Da Ali G‘s Sascha Baron Cohen, came under fire by Kazakh officials late last year because of his portrayal of Kazahtstan as anti-Jewish.

Cohen’s response then: “I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support this government’s decision to sue this Jew.”

Cohen will be featured on the November cover of Vanity Fair as “Borat.”

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