diff --git a/kafka/producer.py b/kafka/producer.py
index 8e40be5b1..9a7d51626 100644
--- a/kafka/producer.py
+++ b/kafka/producer.py
@@ -227,6 +227,9 @@ def _next_partition(self, topic):
         return self.partition_cycles[topic].next()
 
     def send_messages(self, topic, *msg):
+        if type(topic) == unicode:
+            log.exception("topic must be encode to str, not unicode")
+            raise
         partition = self._next_partition(topic)
         return super(SimpleProducer, self).send_messages(topic, partition, *msg)