Indians waking up to their morning cuppa and daily dose of news were in for quite a bit of a surprise yesterday, when they saw ads of Pierce Brosnan holding a bottle of pan masala, with the caption, ‘Class never goes out of style.’
The now-bearded actor struck a pose reminiscent of his James Bond era, but it failed to have the desired impact, with the Twitterati picking the print and television ads apart.
“Pierce Brosnan seems to have taken ‘painting the town red’ too seriously,” wrote a Twitter user, even as others referred to the actor as ‘Jamshed Bond’. The ad, shared several times by users on Facebook and Twitter shows Pierce in his special agent avatar, whacking out baddies by throwing a bottle of pan masala at them, as well as wooing the ladies with it.
Stand-up comedian Zakir Khan, however, thinks the casting is a masterstroke. “It’s like this: when we go out abroad, the biggest problem Indians have is that we can’t find a place to spit gutka out. I think it’s a great initiative by the brand to make sure we get foreigners into our fold too!”
Gopal M.S., creative director at Tailor draws parallels between Pierce’s ad campaign for a pan masala brand and Hugh Jackman’s ads for Micromax phones.
He says, “Advertising has always used ambassadors larger than life. I think English-speaking James Bond fans may be offended. But, if you think in an Indian language, it makes absolute sense to use him.”
