The Great Mango Heist of 2014
When a 10-tonne mango vanished overnight and Australia lost its collective mind
On February 24, 2014, residents of Bowen in North Queensland awoke to find their beloved Big Mango had vanished. The 10-tonne, three-storey fibreglass fruit had disappeared sometime between midnight and 5am. What followed was one of Australia's most memorable marketing stunts.
The Disappearance
The Big Mango was removed in a pre-planned operation involving a team of engineers and three mobile cranes with lifting capacities ranging from 20 to 60 tonnes. Security camera footage—later revealed to be staged—captured glimpses of a huge crane and hooded figures approaching the sculpture in the early hours. By dawn, the mango was gone without a trace.
National Panic
The story went viral. Local and national media covered the 'theft' extensively. The Bowen's Big Mango Facebook page launched that morning and grew to 5,000 followers, reaching 500,000 people within 24 hours. Even WA Premier Colin Barnett tweeted about it. International coverage followed in Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, the UK, Japan, and the US.
The Culprit Revealed
The mystery was solved when the mango was discovered in a field outside Bowen, covered with palm fronds and shade cloth. Nando's then confessed: they had orchestrated the entire stunt to launch their new Mango and Lime sauce flavour. The chicken restaurant chain worked with advertising agency Banjo to execute the elaborate prank.
The Aftermath
The Big Mango was returned to its rightful place, and Nando's unveiled an 8-metre replica alongside their new sauce launch. The stunt generated massive publicity and is now studied as a textbook example of guerrilla marketing. The original Big Mango, erected in 2002 at a cost of $90,000, continues to welcome visitors to Australia's mango production capital.
The Bottom Line
The Great Mango Heist demonstrated just how much Australians love their Big Things. What could have been a PR disaster became a beloved moment in Australian pop culture history, proving that sometimes the best marketing campaigns are the ones that make an entire nation collectively gasp.