The Pierce Brosnan-Pan Bahar drama just refuses to die down. Ex James Bond, Pierce Brosnan recently came under fire when the entire nation woke up to an advertisement featuring him endorsing Pan Masala, leaving his fans around the globe totally flabbergasted, shaken and thoroughly stirred.
After several weeks, a big round of trolls, and almost breaking the Internet, on Friday, Brosnan finally has issued a written apology stating that he was “deeply shocked and saddened” that his image was used to promote a potentially harmful product.
“I would never have entered into an agreement to promote a product in India that is dangerous to one’s health,” he said in a statement to People Magazine. He went on to state, “As a man who has spent decades championing women’s health care and environmental protection, I was distressed to learn of Pan Bahar’s unauthorised and deceptive use of my image to endorse their range of pan masala products.” But the twitterati can’t stop joking about how Pierce Brosnan got tricked into endorsing Pan Bahar.
Comedian Sahil Shah chuckles, “I find it damn funny that he had to change his statement because of the backlash. I’m pretty sure that he knew what he was signing up for. If he’s so gullible, I can imagine a situation where he’s at the Taj Mahal and wondering why it’s so white and right then someone tells him Shahjahan ate Pan Bahar and that’s why he had built a white monument — because ‘Class Never Goes Out of Style’. Anyway, Pan Bahar got their round of publicity once again. And as it is believed ‘any publicity is good publicity.’”
On another note, stand-up comedian Atul Khatri wants to give Pierce the benefit of doubt. He says, “The brand made a fool out of Pierce, and he wasn’t fully aware or briefed about the product. It is the duty of the talent management company to do a proper background research, and brief the celebrity properly or accurately. I am sure they did the deal without doing extensive research. I also believe his apology is honest, and given any situation I will believe Mr Bond and not Pan Bahar.”
Stand-up comedian Neeti Palta on a funnier note quips, “I don’t know why he’s so ‘shaken’ and ‘stirred’ about Pan Bahar not being a teeth whitener, despite it saying pan masala right on the box. In any case, the man does have a license to kill.” She adds, “I feel the next best brand endorsement by him should be Kohinoor condoms with a tag line — ‘what doesn’t go out of style, comes in style (pun intended).’”
