Friday newspapers caught Indians by surprise with a full-page advertisement of actor Pierce Brosnan, who played James Bond in Golden Eye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day, endorsing a pan masala brand.
The ad shows Brosnan holding a box of Pan Bahar, with the tagline ‘Class never goes out of style’ and his signature. The televised also shows the former 007 using a Pan Bahar box as a weapon, and throwing it into the air in Rajinikanth-style before kicking down the enemies.
All this was too much for the Indian Twitterati, and the ad went viral in a matter of hours.
‘When James Bond starts selling pan, you know the empire really has struck back,’ tweeted @d_jaishankar.
And many came up with this tweet: ‘Pierce Brosnan’s new line. My name is bond, (spits pan bahar) James Bond’.
@TheGauravChopra wrote, ‘James Bond, now selling Pan Masala!! Anyone needs more proof India is now a global power!’
‘Pierce Brosnan. Played James Bond. Endorses Pan Bahar. Licensed to kill,’ @rameshsrivats tweeted.
Many also made fun of the tagline ‘Class never goes out of style’.
‘Class never goes out of style. Until you appear in a Pan Bahar ad,’ tweeted @madmanweb.
And @DesolateCranium said, ‘Pierce Brosnan seems to have taken ‘painting the town red’ too seriously.’
