Iconic Ad: Palmolive – Kapil Da Jawab Nahin

In the late 70s, if you visited a cinema, chances are you would have seen Sunil Gavaskar driving the ball exquisitely in a Palmolive commercial, and with every drive, it was shown that he got a smooth shave!

In 1983, India won the cricket world cup and Kapil Dev was a celebrity. Rediffusion & Colgate decided to recruit him to be an endorser for Palmolive to ride on his popularity (perhaps it mattered also that Sunny did not do too well in the world cup).

With his rising star-power and tough facial hair, Palmolive capitalized. The commercial suggested that Kapil Dev’s cricketing prowess was matched by the thickness of his beard. As a result, he shaved with Palmolive shaving cream.

After his lathering and using the razor easily, Kapil in his rustic accent said “Palmolive Da Jawab Nahi”. The line was written by the legendary Kamlesh Pandey.

The line became almost as famous as his cricketing deeds.

Rumour has it that Kapil Dev got a royal sum of Rs 1000 – in cash too!

When Gavaskar was the endorser, the commercial was shown only in cinemas but thanks to Asian Games 1982, television had opened up and had started screening TVCs. Perhaps that’s why Kapil’s Palmolive commercial became even more famous.