Ren-Dang! Viral video of 2 ladies fighting over the world’s best dish all but confirmed to be marketing stunt

Two Indonesian ladies fighting over rendang at a wedding party. Photo: Video screengrab
Two Indonesian ladies fighting over rendang at a wedding party. Photo: Video screengrab

It appears that Indonesia (including us at Coconuts, as well as numerous mainstream media outlets) have been duped by a highly elaborate marketing stunt, which, we must admit, was pretty ingenious. 

Last month, we were all incredibly amused by a viral video of two women fighting over rendang (beef slow cooked in coconut milk and various spices) at a wedding party. 

Since the video went viral, however, netizens became increasingly suspicious that such over-the-top reaction to missing out on what is dubbed the world’s best dish was not staged. Several also pointed out that one of the two ladies looked quite familiar, as she’s starred in ads and sinetron (Indonesian soap opera) before.

Screenshots of Whatsapp chats, purportedly between industry insiders, also circulated stating that the video was taken during a shoot for an ad.

Now, we can all but confirm that the fight was a marketing stunt, staged by local seasoning brand Sasa. 

Sasa actually teased that they had a hand in making the viral video when they posted another seemingly amateurly taken video of the fight from another angle, cryptically urging the public to remain united instead of fighting. “Why do we need to fight if our hearts can make peace. Let’s knit unity, starting from building togetherness,” a message at the end of the video below read.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2jJ02Hl6s2/?utm_source=ig_embed

Yesterday, Sasa posted a new video that pretty much laid any doubts to rest. This time, they released an ad in the form of a web series, titled Rendangku, Rendangmu: Rendang Kita Semua (My Rendang, Your Rendang: Our Rendang)

In the first episode, the two ladies in the viral video encountered each other at a supermarket while buying Sasa’s instant rendang seasoning.

The viral video itself was shown in a flashback, along with dramatic effects, over-the-top acting and narration synonymous to sinetron.

It now appears that the ladies have let bygones be bygones. One of them even invited the other to have rendang at her place, which would not be a bother to make because Sasa’s instant rendang seasoning takes a lot of the hassle out of making the beloved dish. 

Well, we have to give serious props to Sasa’s marketing team. But, we must say we’re still not entirely convinced by the idea of instant rendang because, to us, there’s nothing better than rendang slow cooked from scratch over 24 hours or so.



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