Serbia’s president has been mocked after starring in a video eating ‘harmful’ baloney sausage to promote lower food prices.
President Aleksandar Vucic, 53, had faced criticism for using the highly processed sausage in a government basket of cheap food for hard-pressed shoppers.
Now he’s become a laughing stock after making a video with two cabinet ministers showing him eating the sausage in a massive sandwich covered in mayonaise.
The bizarre campaign began when Vucic launched his government’s ‘Better Price’ campaign to the media to show shoppers how to save cash in their food budget.
But he infuriated voters when he showed off a pack of cheap bologna sausage saying its price would fall from RSD 399 (GBP 2.92) to RSD 259 (GBP 1.90).
The sausage is notorious in Serbia for its low quality and poor nutritional value.
Critics pointed out it often contains just three per cent meat and many harmful additives
But undeterred, Vucic launched a bizarre official Instagram video on 13th September showing him tucking into the sausage with ministers Sinisa Mali and Tomislav Momirovic.
He said: “Dear citizens, it seems to me that we have shown you how much we care about your interests, about your lives.”
The video shows him slapping mayo on half a loaf of bread before he places three pieces of the sausage on it.
And he says: “We are doing this to show that we are ordinary people like the rest of the normal world, because everyone in Serbia knows who has accounts abroad and who does not, nor had, nor will ever have.
“So they said on Sunday night that we must not eat this bologna sausage, I guess it is of poor quality and I guess it’s bad food – I think it’s excellent!”
He continued: “Now let’s put mayonnaise on it”.
After nearly eating the lot he announced: “Ten more important products will be reduced next week. Happy to be able to help our citizens.”
The footage triggered a massive wave of comments ridiculing the president.
Instagram user ‘_marija_petrovic71’ said: “This is really funny. Do you really think people are so blind and stupid? “
User ‘majid_arapovic’ commented: ‘When you think it can’t get any worse, you end up being surprised again.”
And ‘oliverazen’ added: “If it weren’t sad it’d be funny. Time for Putin to press that button.”
