A confused bond

Earlier this month the social media was flooded with merciless trolls on Pierce Brosnan-starrer Pan Bahar’s advertisement. And in an interesting turn of events, the advertisement is back in the news; this time Pierce Brosnan, renowned for his lead role in the James Bond series, has accused Pan Bahar of bitterly manipulating the contract and wrongly portraying him in its product advertisements.

Post allegation, the CBFC has banned the broadcast of Pan Bahar’s advertisement on all national and satellite channels. Pierce says that he is deeply shocked and saddened by the deceptive use of his image in the advertisement.

The former James Bond also says that he was unaware of the fact that he is endorsing a product that is not only bad for health but also banned in some parts of the country. Well, by saying that Brosnan has given the world yet another reason for mockery.

A celebrity as credible as Pierce Brosnan, who’s played Ian Fleming’s immortal character James Bond, endorsing a product line like Pan Bahar, is questionable. What is even more peculiar is that Pierce Brosnan denies to knowing the nature of the product he was advertising.

It is all surprising, not only because Pierce has played the prestigious role of James Bond, but majorly because he lost his own wife and daughter to cancer. And while Pierce Brosnan denies to knowing that Pan Bahar is cancerous, the question that arises is how did he sign a contract of two million dollars, without knowing what product is he advertising?

It could either be a consequence of sheer negligence from his legal team or tricky manipulation in the contract, we don’t know. We can argue that all paan masala ads are banned by the Union government on all platforms, whatsoever.

But why wake up after a controversy? The Pan Bahar ad has not only been a laughing stock for social media, but also divided the advertising industry into two halves; one that thinks starring Pierce Brosnan in the advertisement was legitimate, and the latter who think it was a foolish strategy.

However, Pan Bahar’s CEO Akhil Jain feels that onboarding Pierce Brosnan was a well-planned decision by the brand and that the star’s personality resonates with the brand’s ambition and vision – sophistication, class and success.

For those who haven’t gone through this iconic ad, it features Pierce Brosnan showing off his Bond-style stunts and signing-off with the statement – “Pan Bahar. Class never goes out of style.” For a matter of fact, this spot for Pan Bahar was created none other than communication experts – DDB Mudra.

We are sure that the agency wouldn’t have expected the ban and controversies on this advert, if not a hugely successful campaign. And while the end of the campaign seems very abrupt and mysterious, it will be a case study for future celebrity endorsements.Calculating risks actually means something.