Martin Sorrell sells off Mugabe’s ad agency

Sir Martin Sorrell, the head of the advertising giant WPP Group, has ordered the sale of one of his agencies after discovering it had taken on president Robert Mugabe as a client. Zimbabwe-based Imago Y&R, 25 per cent of which is owned by Sorrell, created an advertising campaign for Mugabe's Zanu PF party for this year’s bitter, corrupt and bloody general elections.

The television advertisements featured the faces of George W Bush, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown morphing into each other. The final face to appear is that of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, under the heading 'Losers' Club' (A prescient judgement considering he had to pull out of the run-off election for the presidency on Sunday due to the violence and intimidation whipped up by Mugabe's Zanu PF thugs). Another advertisement showed a white man in a pith helmet being carried in a hammock by four black servants. The copy reads: "The British came only to seize land, conquer and enjoy life on our land at our expense. It's now time for us to enjoy the gains of our independence."

The reaction from the Zim Daily, a Zimbabwean newspaper distributed outside of the country, was one of anger: "Robert Mugabe must be grateful to Sir Martin Sorrell… They (WPP) are complicit with Robert Mugabe in raping Zimbabwe." Bernard Barnett, WPP's corporate vice-president said: "This is a disgraceful regime and we want no connection between Y&R and it."

The majority shareholder and CEO of Imago Y&R is one Sharon Mugabe - described in the Zimbabwe press as a "communications powerhouse" and a "marketing icon". It isn't immediately clear if the 36-year-old Mugabe is any relation to the 84-year-old President; some news sources say she is his niece or cousin. But the fact that she served as the Junior Mayor of Harare between 1989 and 1990 and was runner-up last year in the Harare Chamber of Commerce Businesswoman of the Year Award (just behind the head of the army's wife) suggest she may be receiving some help from higher places.