Roast me, please! When brands laugh at themselves

It started, as many things do these days, with a joke.

Comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath casually poked fun at Vijay Sales, a millennial or Gen X electronics brand. This reel, posted at the end of July 2025, went viral. Instead of panicking, Vijay Sales did something unexpected, it called Biswa, not to sue, but to collaborate!

The brand immediately partnered with Biswa for an ad campaign that continued the original joke while highlighting the brand’s product range, pricing, and the trust it has built over the years.

The result? The ad, released on August 6, clocked 3.5 million views, 1,93,000 likes, and over 2,000 comments. The internet appreciated the fact that the brand had turned humour-filled sarcasm into an opportunity. For a decades-old brand, this wasn’t just a smart marketing move but a statement. It was a sign that it is learning to speak the language of the internet and is confident enough to play a joke on itself: ‘We get it. We can laugh too.’

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Biswa Kalyan Rath (@biswakalyanrath)

Vijay Sales is not alone. From fintech to beauty, humour is quietly becoming a new tool in the modern marketer’s kit. If earlier, brands were about defending themselves online, 2025 marked a pivot. Brands increasingly turned the spotlight inward, using self-roasting to build stronger, more genuine connections with consumers.

A recent example is Bingo!, a snack brand from ITC. In an October ad campaign, the brand didn’t just shrug off its outdated image and underperformance; it roasted it. The brand turned this weakness into the ‘hero of the story’ by boldly admitting to being a ‘Big No’ in the snacking aisle, before announcing its reinvention with new packaging and flavours. This honesty, combined with humour, resulted in the advertisement receiving millions of views within the first two days on YouTube.

Similarly, Knorr’s July ad with comedian Samay Raina is an example of a brand openly acknowledging and laughing at its own misstep. The brand’s previous collaboration with Raina in 2024 had gone off track, as Raina had demanded creative control and the resulting content was seen as misaligned with the Knorr brand’s tone and values. The brand quickly pulled back the ad. Ironically, the “failed” campaign drove a sharp rise in sales, making it Knorr’s most profitable influencer partnership.

Instead of burying the episode, Knorr leaned into the irony in 2025 by collaborating with Raina again, this time to promote their new Ramen range.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Samay Raina (@maisamayhoon)

The video opens with a Knorr brand manager brainstorming a ‘viral video’ idea with Raina, with the manager admitting to an uneasy sense of déjà vu. Raina appears in his trademark unfiltered avatar, mocking the chaos and even reducing it to a joke about Knorr soup. This collaboration drew massive engagement and sparked playful banter, including other food brands jumping into the comments with lines like, ‘Humare pizza ka bhi mazaak uda do’ (‘Make fun of our pizza as well’).

By choosing to acknowledge, exaggerate, and laugh at its own chaos, the brand mirrored a wider cultural shift happening today, consumers valuing authenticity more than flawlessness.

Why comedy-led brand storytelling works

It was long believed that effective brand endorsements required a clear ‘brand-influencer fit’. A beauty brand needed a beauty content creator, a tech brand needed a tech content creator, and so on. But the rulebook is being rewritten with comedians because humour has no fit.

There is a shift from influencing through expertise and aesthetics to influencing through comedy, and it’s working. Partnerships between brands and comedians are on the rise. In 2025, this trend gained significant momentum, as brands increasingly turned to comedians to create humorous, relatable and share-worthy communication.

Electronics? Biswa Kalyan Rath x Bosch

Restaurant? Shreeja Chaturvedi x Barbeque Nation

Confectionery? Sumukhi Suresh x ITC Candyman

AI? Rebel Kid x Perplexity AI

Beauty? Samay Raina x Renee Official

These partnerships signal a new kind of influencer marketing strategy.

The logic is simple. Consumers are tired of being sold to. They are tired of ‘use my code’ videos and sponsored posts by influencers who try too hard to appear authentic but often fail. Humour cuts through the clutter, and comedians bring a refreshing change. This also helps brands connect with Gen Z, who are growing up with a different value system.

So, when a brand can laugh at a joke targeting it, it signals cultural agility. And when the brand is a legacy one rather than a young start-up, it does not go unnoticed. Vijay Sales is one such example, signalling a ‘dad brand’ becoming internet-cool.

McDonald’s India recently pulled off a similar move. Instead of hiding from negativity, its new campaign released in October 2025, featured real consumer complaints and invited those same consumers to try its new burger. By showcasing accountability with humour, McDonald’s signalled innovation and evolution, not only in menu options but also in mindset.

Humour is helping brands appear self-aware, confident, yet agile. After all, in today’s meme-driven world, sometimes the best way for an old brand to feel young again is to laugh at itself.

Exercise caution: humour is hard

Humour is a double-edged sword: it can go wonderfully right or become a PR disaster. In the internet age, there is no rewind button. Everything is shared and judged within minutes, especially with content that users feel is insensitive. Competitors are ready and quick to turn a misstep into a marketing opportunity. This is why brands need to approach humour with care and ensure that it aligns with their tone and values.

Humour works only when it is delivered in a way that feels genuine. If it appears manufactured or performative, it can feel cringe-worthy rather than clever. There is a thin line between being a brand ‘who gets the joke’ and a brand ‘who is trying too hard to be funny’.

Brands today need not only to survive but also to thrive in the digital world of cancel culture, de-influencers, and meme warfare. The future of brand communication belongs to those who can turn a moment of mockery into a moment of marketing.

-Neha Vyas, doctoral scholar, and Ashita Aggarwal, professor of marketing at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR).