Pierce Brosnan is back in his Bond avatar — this time, for an advertisement of an Indian tobacco brand. The first visuals of the campaign were out on Friday and sent the virtual world in India into a tizzy.
The Hollywood actor, best known for his stint as the legendary British spy James Bond in the popular film franchise, features in the print ad holding a box of the chewing tobacco brand, Pan Bahar, popularly called pan masala, with the text below reading, “Class never goes out of style”.
The actor’s signature also found space in the ad, which is splashed across the front page of a few national dailies.
The video ad features a luxury car, a few women and action, but there is a catch. Instead of guns and ammunition, which he used in the Bond films, Brosnan is fighting with a box of the pan masala.
Twitter users have taken a dig at the ad, as well as criticised it.
Comedian Sorabh Pant remarked: “Pierce Brosnan endorses Pan Bahar. [expletive] you, Hugh Jackman. And, Micromax. THIS is the greatest Make in India moment.”
While there was one Twitter user who wondered why Brosnan agreed to endorse Pan Bahar, Piyush Pankaj posted: “Pierce Brosnan supports StandUpToCancer on global platform but in India promotes Chewing tobacco Pierce Brosnan”.
“Brosnan endorsing Pan Bahar. The world is coming to an end Bond,” remarked another.
The actor has worked in films such as GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002).
This is Brosnan’s second endorsement of an Indian product. He had earlier endorsed suiting fabric Indian brand Reid & Taylor.
