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Monday, June 21, 2010
Oh this is just so cool I love it!
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Stand aside, Zakumi the Leopard - the World Cup has a cheeky new mascot: Sepp the Dog.
The brazen Boston Terrier from Cape Town has barked his way on to the 2010 stage by claiming free flights originally offered to Fifa president Sepp Blatter by local airline, kulula.com.
The mutt bagged the flights after the airline ran advertisements apologising to Blatter and Fifa for sailing a little too close to the wind with a recent campaign in which it described itself as the "Unofficial carrier of the you-know-what" and featured soccer-related drawings.
Fifa's legal team took exception to the ad, to which kulula.com then responded with a conciliatory offer to fly Blatter around the country free of charge during the World Cup.
kulula.com has agreed to honour the offer and Sepp the dog will now be enjoying flights to Joburg and Durban over the next few weeks.
"We really wanted to make a gesture to Sepp Blatter for putting on such a great show and to make up for our somewhat cheeky advertising telling people how reasonable our fares are.
"We were somewhat surprised that instead of flying the president of Fifa around we'll now be giving a seat to a Boston Terrier. But he's quite cute and very well behaved, so why not," said Nadine Damen, marketing manager of kulula.com.
The dog's owner did not want to be named. He, unlike his canine companion, will still have to pay for his flights.
