Some ads sell products. Some sell attitude. And then there are those rare few that quietly sneak into daily language, sit comfortably between jokes, greetings, and inside references, and never leave.
This was one of them.
In 2015, when most deodorant ads were busy selling fantasy, Fogg did something radically Indian, it sold logic, humour, and relatability. Created with The Womb, the campaign flipped the category script and turned a simple greeting into a national inside joke.
The film opens on a tense-but-familiar setting, the India–Pakistan border at night. Two officers stand guard. Silence hangs in the air, broken only by the unexpected chaos of a barking dog. It’s cinematic, yes. But also oddly everyday. Like two neighbours separated by a fence, just with higher stakes.
Then comes the moment.
The Pakistani officer, half amused, half curious, asked, “Aur janaab, kya chal raha hai?”
And with peak deadpan confidence, the Indian officer replied, “Janaab, Hindustan mein toh Fogg chal raha hai.”
And just like that, tension dissolves into humour. The dog stops barking. The moment lands. The country laughs.
The genius of the line wasn’t just wordplay. In Hindi, chal raha hai means everything, trending, working, popular, happening. So when he says Fogg chal raha hai, he’s saying Fogg is everywhere, Fogg is winning, Fogg is the moment.
Within weeks, the line escaped TV screens. Shopkeepers used it. College kids spammed it. Relatives weaponised it in small talk. It became less of a tagline and more of a cultural reflex.
And that was the magic. The ad didn’t force aspiration. It mirrored India back to itself- playful, witty, slightly sarcastic, deeply rooted in everyday language. The campaign tapped into Indian humour so naturally that people felt like the brand spoke their language, not advertising language.
What made this campaign iconic wasn’t scale. It was familiarity. It proved that sometimes, the smartest marketing doesn’t invent new language, it upgrades the language people already love. Years later, the line still pops up in conversations, memes, and nostalgic throwbacks. Because the best ads don’t end when the TV switches off. They live on in chai breaks, WhatsApp groups, and casual “kya chal raha hai” moments.
And honestly? In India, sometimes nothing is happening. Sometimes everything is happening. But culturally, somewhere in the background- Fogg chal raha hai.
