--- title: Pierce Brosnan Is the New Spokesperson for Indian Pan Bahar description: Pierce Brosnan, a former James Bond, is the new face of Pan Bahar, an Indian Pan Masala brand, and the internet has responded. canonical: https://time.com/4522801/pierce-brosnan-pan-bahar-spokesman/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-07T16:44:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:26.536Z og:title: The Internet Can't Get Over Pierce Brosnan's New Gig og:description: The former Mr. Bond is now the face of an Indian Pan Masala brand og:url: https://time.com/4522801/pierce-brosnan-pan-bahar-spokesman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Can't Get Over Pierce Brosnan's New Gig twitter:description: The former Mr. Bond is now the face of an Indian Pan Masala brand twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Internet Has a Lot of Feelings About Pierce Brosnan's Controversial New Gig > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 7, 2016 4:44 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 7, 2016 4:44 PM UTC Former [James Bond](http://time.com/james-bond-spectre-007-deadliest/) actor [Pierce Brosnan](http://time.com/3985396/tsa-pierce-brosnan-knife-airport/) recently signed on to be the newest spokesperson of Pan Bahar, an Indian pan masala brand. Pan masala or “paan masala” is a mixture consisting of areca nut and spices that’s generally chewed with tobacco and/or betel leaves. According to [_The Washington Post_](http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/10/07/james-bond-actor-pierce-brosnan-stars-in-ad-for-indian-pan-masala/?mod=e2fb), the concoction has a government-mandated warning that tells consumers that it’s “injurious to health;” it’s also worth noting that the [World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer](http://www.wpro.who.int/tobacco/documents/201203%5FBetelnut/en/) says that the areca nut is carcinogenic to humans. Brosnan appears in an ad campaign for the product that includes a video depicting him as an action star who is aided by a can of pan masala; the campaign however, has received backlash online for the suave endorsement of a product that is associated with health risks. > [](https://twitter.com/DenNehaS/status/784258949272842241) > [](https://twitter.com/djdineshjain/status/784283278131900416) > [](https://twitter.com/dabas%5Fjeetu/status/784262208381345793) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4522801/pierce-brosnan-pan-bahar-spokesman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4522801/pierce-brosnan-pan-bahar-spokesman/"},"headline":"The Internet Has a Lot of Feelings About Pierce Brosnan's Controversial New Gig","datePublished":"2016-10-07T16:44:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:26.536Z","description":"The former Mr. Bond is now the face of an Indian Pan Masala brand","url":"https://time.com/4522801/pierce-brosnan-pan-bahar-spokesman/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4522801/pierce-brosnan-pan-bahar-spokesman/","name":"The Internet Has a Lot of Feelings About Pierce Brosnan's Controversial New Gig"}}]}] ```