HUL uses Michael Vaughan's Vaseline-gate for its new Vaseline advertisemen

It seems Michael Vaughan has done a Munni! No, there's nothing common between the former England cricket captain and Bollywood actress Malaika Arora Khan. But the controversy that both of them got embroiled into, obviously for different reasons and at different times, has created a huge publicity opportunity for the brands that got unintentionally involved in it.

While Emami was quick to encash Munni's Zandu Balm song to the hilt, it's the turn of HUL now to make the most of Vaughan's vaseline comment, though belatedly.

"This is an opportunity for the brand to reiterate the 'real' and 'multiple' benefits of Vaseline to its consumers in an engaging and topical manner," the HUL spokesman said

HUL has rolled out a print and facebook campaign for its petroleum jelly brand, Vaseline, which revolves around reminding Michael Vaughan that vaseline is not used on cricket bats.!

And cricket being a Gentleman's Game, Michael Vaughan has taken the campaign very sportingly. "Love it...Can you send me a picture of the Advert please? Very amusing," tweeted Vaughan in response to the advertisement.

In its print ad, HUL has come up with a long list of things for which vaseline can be used. And in its facebook apps, it has created a badge for users who agree that vaseline is used for everything good, and not on cricket bats.

In the second test match between Indian and England at Trent Bridge during the last week of July, Vaughan had tweeted that Indian batsman VVS Laxman might have used vaseline on the edge of his bat to avoid detection by the Hot Spot technology. This technology spots edges on the bat or on a player's body.

England were convinced that Laxman had edged a James Anderson delivery. However, Hot Spot did not show any deflection and appeal against Laxman was turned down.

A prolific tweeter, Ex-England captain posed the question: "Has Vaseline on the outside edge saved the day for Laxman?" It created a huge controversy and Vaughan was slammed for his comments.

Brand vaseline, it seems, is no stranger to Englishmen, cricket and controversy.

In the 70s, English bowler John Lever -not to be mistaken for Unilever!-was accused by the Indian team led by Bishan Singh Bedi of using vaseline to tamper with the ball. The Engishmen, of course, said that they were using vaseline to prevent sweat from getting into their eyes.