‘Thank you for taking it to global stage’: Parle thanks PM Modi as ‘Melody’ moment goes viral

Melody received endorsement from PM Modi who gifted a packet of the toffee to his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, before a high-level diplomatic engagement

Updated on: May 20, 2026, 19:44:28 IST

Written by Majid Alam

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A toffee popular in the early 2000s suddenly became the centre of attraction on Wednesday during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Italy as part of his 5-nation tour.

PM Modi and Meloni in the viral video. (X)

Melody, popular among the millennials, received endorsement from PM Modi who gifted a packet of the toffee to his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, before a high-level diplomatic engagement.

A video of the Indian prime minister candidly sharing the gift with the Italian leader has now gone viral.

Hours later, Parle Products, which manufactures the toffee, thanked the prime minister for taking Melody to the global stage.

"Thank You Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for taking Parle Melody to the global stage. A proud moment for all of us at Parle Products to see an Indian favourite being shared across borders," Parle said in a post on X.

The FMCG firm also took to Instagram to share a video with the caption: "Sweetening relationships since 1983."

A video published by Italian leader Meloni on social media later showed her thanking PM Modi for the toffees as they both laughed heartily at the camera. Meloni captioned the post: “Thank you for the gift.”

Hours after the viral video went online, the search for the term ‘melody chocolate’ had surged by a whopping 1200 percent within hours after the social media post went live, the data of the Google Trends showed. Similar terms like ‘parle melody’ and ‘melody toffee’ have seen a search interest surge of 4750 and 950 percent respectively.

Parle Products Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Mayank Shah told CNBC-TV18 that the gesture was "a nice way of pushing Indian products and giving a global stage."

In about six hours, the video drew more than 110 million views on Meloni's social media accounts and tens of thousands of reposts.

He added that the company expects "a lot of traction in domestic and international sales" following the viral moment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Majid Alam
Majid Alam is a Chief Content Producer working at Hindustan Times, based in New Delhi. He currently heads shifts at online desk and manages homepage apart from writing, editing and curating articles. With over six years of experience in journalism, Majid has navigated national, politics and international news. His work primarily focuses on the politics of the Hindi heartland, government policies, and South Asia. He also writes on US and Europe’s policies vis-à-vis India. Before joining Hindustan Times, Majid worked at ABP LIVE as the Chief Copy Editor and at News18, where he managed the World and Explainers sections. His articles have featured in Dialogue Earth, The Quint, BMJ, The Diplomat, and Outlook India. Majid has a keen interest in the use of data for storytelling. Majid holds a Masters in Convergent Journalism from Jamia Millia Islamia. He was awarded the Erasmus+ scholarship to study International Affairs at Sciences Po, Paris in 2020. He is also part of the OCEANS Network, an alumni network of Erasmus+ exchange scholars. He is currently serving as the National Representative (India) at the OCEANS Network. Apart from journalism, Majid has a flair for academic writing and loves to teach. He has published a book chapter: 'Bombay Cinema and Postmodernism' in the book: 'Handbook of Research on Social and Cultural Dynamics in Indian Cinema.' He was also part of the OCEANS Network delegation to Hanoi National University of Education in Vietnam in 2025. He has also given guest lecture in digital journalism at AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia.Read More

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