1 There are many celebrities who are associated with brand/product advertising and promotions. Time and again there are comments that the particular product does not go with status of the celebrity. Some times these celebrities knowingly or unknowingly promote the product which is carrying a surrogate brand name. Mainly tobacco and liquor companies go in for surrogate names for the product of their own companies, as the advertising of liquor and tobacco products is prohibited.
Yesterday Amitabh Bachchan terminated his endorsement contract with chewing tobacco brand Kamla Pasand. As per his statement ‘he was not aware that the brand he is endorsing falls under surrogate advertising’. Now he has terminated the contract with the brand, has written to them about his termination, and has returned the money received for promotion.
This development comes in the wake of social media posts about actors including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh and others endorsing various chewing tobacco brands having escalated in recent months with user questioning actors endorsing products harmful to health.
Advertising Standards Council of India’s (ASCI) guidelines state that celebrities should not participate in the advertisements of products which by law require a health warning in their ads or packaging. The ASCI code has clear guidelines in place for advertising of brand extensions of products whose advertising is prohibited by law. The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act 2003 prohibits advertisements related to production, supply and distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn have featured in Vimal Elaichi pan masala ads, while Saif Ali Khan has promoted Pan Bahar and Hrithik Roshan has endorsed Siggnature pan masala, Ranveer Singh is there in thead of Kamla Pasand with Amitabh Bachchan.
Last month, Bachchan was approached by the National Organisation for the Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) to stop endorsing pan masala. NOTE had said in the letter that since consumption of the product could lead toaddiction to tobacco which decays the health of the citizens, the actor should consider dropping the chewing tobacco endorsement.
I hope other celebrities also follow the example set by Amitabh Bachchan and withdraw from endorsing such brands.
2 This item is also related to celebrity. About 10 days back Aryan Khan, son of Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested from a luxury crew liner with other people in a drug related case. He was found in possession of 6 gm drug, and after inspection of his cell phone, it was found there were names of drug dealers and conversations/chats with them. For few days he was in custody of Narcotics department, and after that court sent him to judicial custody for 14 days. His lawyer is now seeking bail for him, and matter will be heard in the court tomorrow.
News of Aryan Khan’s arrest spread like wild fire across the country, and it looked like some big thing has fallen on the Bollywood fraternity. All the top notch people of Bollywood started showing sympathy for Shah Rukh Khan and few came out on social media started describing Aryan as 23 year old kid, his crime is not so grave and hence he should not have been arrested blah blah.. . A man from armed forces reacted and said ‘ at the age of 23 years I was stationed at Kargil and was commanding a unit of 100 soldiers. 23 year old is in not a kid’.
There was also an old video clip was doing the rounds on social media. ‘ In the video clip, which is from TV program where Simi Grewal is interviewing Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan, where Shah Rukh Khan has been shown, as saying ‘ I want my son to enjoy life- smoke, party, have drugs, go out with girls etc etc.’ Now if this type of advice is being imparted by a father to son then it is obvious that the son is bound to become addicted to drugs and womaniser.
It is generally seen that all these rich people and celebrities care two hoots for the law, and they feel their money can buy everything in the world and same training is imparted to their wards. But in the last few years, slowly law is become stricter for these people.
It is certain that Aryan will get bail very shortly, now the people who did not know who is Aryan Khan, has become aware of his existence. As Bollywood is full of nepotism, I will not be surprised if within next few months some known friend of Shah Rukh Khan will launch Aryan Khan in the film as leading man.
So let us wait and watch for further development in this case.
Waiting, for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
12th October 2021