About 10 days ago, all of us got the shock of our lives when we saw this in our morning newspapers:
Remember?
He even shot for a TVC btw!
I’m sure Pierce Brosnan hadn’t made such a massive impact on people, especially Indians in a long, long time. No kidding! And for obvious reasons, the internet had a field day trolling this.
Here are some gems to jog your memory:
At that time Pan Bahar had even issued a statement to clarify the brand’s stand on the issue.
In a report in Indian Express, this was the statement given:
But after all the tamasha that happened, in what’s a massively ironical move, the ad has been banned from national and satellite television.
Speaking to Bollywood Life, CBFC head Pahlaj Nihalani said:
“I haven’t seen the ad. But it is very difficult to believe Pierce Brosnan has done this. Money can hardly be a criteria when you’re selling death to people. However, he has chosen to do what he has done. But there is no way we can certify the ad. All paan masala, tobacco, alcohol ads are automatically and unconditionally banned.”
He further added how the liquor brands doing surrogate advertising are also illegal.
“Even the liquor ads showing big stars like Shah Rukh and Saif, which pretend to sell non-alcohol products while actually selling the alcohol brand, are illegal. You can’t use a name associated with an alcohol to sell any other product. I repeat, all paan masala ads are banned by the government on all public platforms.”