Jokes on Indian advertisements and Brands

Bombay Dyeing?: One day a friend of mine questioned me “why is Bombay dying”. I launched into a class of sociology. I spoke about over population, the limited land mass and unchecked development. My bewildered friend snarled at me “because Gwalior is shooting”. The joke was on me Bombay Dyeing is a textile company in India and so is Gwalior suiting. He was punning on the fact that sales of Bombay Dyeing are down and those of Gwalior suiting are going up.  

Palmolive da Jawoob Nahi: A visitor to an echo cliff was conducting an experiment. He shouted Sakura and the echo came back Konica. Encouraged with the response he said Binaca and the echo came back – Cibaca (Konica and Cibaca are the changed names of the original brands Sakura and Binaca). The visibly excited visitor said “Palmolive”. There was no response. Why? One needs to know the advertisement of Palmolive to know the answer. 

Palmolive at that time was airing a commercial that featured the Indian cricket’s greatest player Kapil Dev. After using the shaving cream Kapil says in Punjabi “Palmolive da Jawoob Nani”. It means no answer to Palmolive. That is way the echo cliff dare not respond to the word Palmolive.

You just can’t beat a Bajaj: Once there was a boxing tournament being held. All the corporate honchos were facing up to each other. To every one’s surprise quite old Rahul Bajaj was scoring telling victories over his fit and young CEOs. One spectator not believing his eyes asked his neighbor as what could be the reason. “You just can’t beat a Bajaj” was the answer. Bajaj Automobile at that time was using the punch line ‘you just can’t beat a Bajaj’. 

Brooke Bond:  James Bond once proposed to Brooke Shields the film star. Even though James Bond was rich, handsome and sexy, Brooke Shields refused to marry James Bond. Why? she did not want to be called Brooke Bond (the brand of Coffee and Tea in India). 

Hindustan Lever:  What will you call a person who is leaving India forever? Hindustan Lever (Leaver). And what would you call a person who leaves India, but doesn't travel much?  Hindustan Lever Ltd.