One question in India is invariably more difficult to answer than the one about salary, age, or marriage plans: “So, who did you vote for?” Many in West Bengal might be feeling the weight of this question since the Assembly election results were announced on 4 May. Dabur Vatika seems to have tapped into that everyday awkwardness in Kolkata and that discomfort to produce an ad which, to put it mildly, is comedy gold.
What makes its latest shampoo ad hilarious is that, for the most part, you can barely tell the ad is trying to sell a shampoo product — even if a parlour setting is a tell-tale sign.
The Instagram reel opens with the line: “Kolkata Right Now: Who did you vote for?” From there, it attempts to recreate the kind of conversations people were having after the voting. Nobody in the video says a party name directly. Instead, characters speak in riddles, avoid eye contact, roll their eyes, say things like “I voted for democracy” or insist that revealing their vote choice “is not going to affect our friendship”.
The ad quickly shifts gears when a male character, visibly frustrated by people around him not saying it openly, almost drops the hint: ‘You all know who I voted for.’ Sly remarks fly thick and fast: “Your iPhone is of that cosmic colour”; “you have a photo of him on your phone’s wallpaper”; “so, against women”
With a Harry Potter reference, the character hits back: “Just because I voted for ‘you-know-who’, I am against women?”
Just then, another character sheepishly agrees: “Actually, I voted for ‘you-know-who’.” A pin-drop silence follows, and then the floodgates open. From there on, every character starts agreeing how they too voted for the same ‘you-know-who’.
As speculation over the ‘real’ choice builds, one character suddenly reveals what this country voted for: “Dabur Vatika damage repair shampoo”, while holding up an unmistakably orange bottle.
Just when viewers think they have understood the punchline, another character pulls out the ‘green’ Moisture Boost variant instead. Chef’s kiss.
This unexpected shift from political satire to shampoo caught viewers off guard, and the comment section exploded. The viral reel crossed more than 3.5 million views and attracted thousands of comments.
What makes the ad work is how accurate and timely it is. In West Bengal, political identity is often intertwined with cultural identity. People don’t just support political parties; they become emotionally invested in them. Family dinners easily turn into mini election debates. Naturally, people become experts at dodging direct political questions.
The commercial captures that discomfort through sarcasm and indirect digs. It trusts viewers to understand the joke without spelling everything out. That itself is refreshing in Indian advertising, where brands often over-explain humour.
Political humour in India has also changed dramatically over the years. Earlier, election-related advertising was usually serious, patriotic, and overly dramatic. Today, memes travel faster than manifestos, and internet culture shapes political conversations more than traditional campaigns do. But going overboard (which is difficult to determine) can invite trouble. So political humour nowadays is a fine line, and Dabur Vatika walks that line cleverly. It said a lot, without saying anything at all.
Also read: Flipkart’s Kerala twin town ad is a viral hit. Malayalis aren’t happy
What is ‘The Vatikan’?
There is more to this video. It has brought public attention to an Instagram page called “The Vatikan.” The account has only a few hundred followers and around 17 posts, all short-form videos. Interestingly, it follows just one account: Dabur Vatika Official.
Every video on the page follows the same formula: internet-style storytelling with humour that circles back to shampoo. The content touches on trending social media themes, break-ups, cheating, dating frustrations, and gender dynamics. But they all end with Dabur Vatika Shampoo.
The page started posting videos in January 2026 without any introduction. After a few uploads, the creators formally introduced “The Vatikan” as a “scandalous original series by Dabur Vatika Official.” But for the creators, it was more than a marketing concept — it comes with a fictional backstory too.
The Vatikan is being presented as a fictional beauty parlour founded in the 1990s that began with “one chair and one mirror” before evolving into “a place where women tell the truth.”
Notably, the campaign does not rely on celebrities or influencers. The content itself carries the storytelling. However, it was only after the Kolkata election reel went viral that people really started paying attention to the page.
At a time when advertising is overcrowded and influencer collaborations are increasingly losing credibility, brands are desperately searching for newer ways to hold audience attention.
What Dabur Vatika seems to understand is that audiences no longer want to feel like they are watching advertisements. They want entertainment, curiosity, and storytelling first — then the product. That is exactly what The Vatikan attempts to do.
The brand blends into the kind of content people consume daily on social media while scrolling. It hooks viewers with storytelling and only introduces the product when they least expect it.
This is undoubtedly a smart and refreshing approach, and the brand deserves credit for experimenting with format and tone.
At the same time, declaring the campaign a massive success or a template based on one viral reel may be going too far. While the video generated great reach, it did not translate into a dramatic increase in followers or sustained engagement. At least not yet.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)