Readers woke up to quite a shocking surprise on Friday, when they found splashed across the front pages an ad featuring Hollywood star and former James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, endorsing Pan Bahar.
Pan Bahar, which calls itself “the heritage pan masala” is a 50-year-old company manufacturing mouth fresheners and tobacco products.
As if the print ads were not surprise enough, Pierce has even appeared in a video spot, where he channels his Bond avatar. But this time, Bond uses his trusty canister of pan masala instead of the regular Walther PPK to exercise his license to kill.
Watch the ad here:
But Indian twitter users were not amused. Many were simply flabbergasted, some took exception to the star endorsing a tobacco product, and some just took mickey out of the advertisers.
#PierceBrosnan last time he was in India he was promoting Reid and Taylor , Now Pan Bahar.#AcheDin pic.twitter.com/g0Or7T7U2b
— Pratik Rao (@pratikkk23) October 7, 2016
Your mission if you choose to accept it, is to spread cancer in the third world. #PierceBrosnan #PanBahar
— Devaiah Bopanna (@devaiahPB) October 7, 2016
Pierce Brosnan.
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) October 7, 2016
Played James Bond.
Endorses Pan Bahar.
Licensed to kill.
Micromax got Wolverine, Pan Bahar got James Bond.
— चार लोग (@WoCharLog) October 7, 2016
What's next? Iron Man endorsing Amba TMT? #MakeInIndia
The next Bond movie would have Brosnan chewing Pan Bahar and spitting at his rival to death.
— Debabrata Mohanty (@debabrata2008) October 7, 2016