Remember the movie Pirates of the Caribbean? It first was an amusement ride at Disneyland. GEICO insurance launched cavemen into the world of advertising. Now they star their own TV show. The World's Marco Werman explains that in India, one of the biggest pop tunes at the moment is in fact a commercial for deodorant.

This is one of those stories about life imitating art.

Or is it art imitating life?

Or is it schlock imitating schlock?

Whatever this story is about, just telling it probably helps to feed the whole advertising machine that sells stuff. In India, it's become a well-oiled machine in recent months. The leading player in that machine currently is a singer named Silky Kumar.

Silky Kumar

Actually, he's not a singer. He's an actor named Srman Jain. But in a video for his song "Scent of Desire," he is Silky Kumar.

He's more dork than dude, and anchored in the belief that if a man smells like a star, he can seduce even the foxiest women.

To their credit, many Indians think "Scent of Desire" is a dumb song.

But after MTV-India began running the video every twenty minutes, Silky Kumar fever became contagious. Even the respectable Times of India said Silky Kumar was pretty good. Then in September, MTV broke the news that Silky Kumar was bogus.

Well, they didn't really break the news because MTV had been part of the giant ruse behind Silky.

Silky Kumar

MTV-India had been collaborating with the ad agency of the multinational company Unilever to sell its Axe brand deodorant across Asia. And Silky Kumar and his song "Scent of Desire" were the weapons in their arsenal...a giant product placement scheme that never displayed the product, or mentioned the words B.O., Axe or deodorant.

MTV didn't just run the "Scent of Desire" video non-stop. It also ran fake reports on Silky Kumar's fake tour of Asia. It's all good for Srman Jain.

A couple of months ago, the guy couldn't get arrested. Now he's mobbed by Indian girls for autographs, and a Bollywood starring role is in the offing. Some of his fans even performed his dance moves for him at a Pizza Hut in Delhi. Earlier this year, a similarly contrived "viral marketing" plan transpired with another product in India.

Friday Night Fever was a video launched by MTV and and Lux beauty products. Again, no mention of the new line of shampoo and soap. Four weeks after the video launched, a new line of body wash from Lux following the Friday Night Fever theme.

Yeah, the song is robotic and idiotic. But who said advertisers were purveyors of musical quality. Besides, Advertising Age magazine reported recently that 98 percent of all product placement in movies and TV shows here in the US are paid for by the manufacturer.

So who's getting fooled worse, Indians or Americans?

Well, it's hard to decide.

This is what an MTV spokesman in Southeast Asia had to say regarding the Silky Kumar video: "Indians didn't feel tricked. They know we like to have fun."

For The World, I'm Marco Werman.