Bollywood’s veteran Super Star Amitabh Bachchan on his 79th birthday announced his withdrawal from the advertising campaign of pan masala brand Kamla Pasand.
He said that he wasn’t aware that it ‘falls under surrogate advertising’
In a recent blog post, Mr Bachchan revealed that he stepped down as the face of a paan masala brand as he was “unaware” of some of the details.
The statement shared on his blog said “From the office of Mr Amitabh Bachchan”, read, “Kamala Pasand … a few days after the commercial was aired, Mr Bachchan contacted the brand and stepped out of it last week.”
The statement continued,
“Upon checking why this sudden move – it was revealed that when Mr Bachchan became associated with the brand, he wasn’t aware that it falls under surrogate advertising Mr Bachchan has terminated the contract with the Brand, has written to them his termination and has returned the money received for the promotion.”
This move comes weeks after India’s national Anti-tobacco organisation had reportedly requested him to refrain from endorsing pan masala as it could help prevent youngsters from getting addicted to tobacco.
Earlier Mr Bachchan replied to the organisation, “If some people are getting benefits from an industry, we should not think as to ‘why am I getting associated with it?’ If it is an industry, then we too should think of it as our industry. Now, you may think that I should not be doing it, but I get paid for it.”
Social commentators in India were against Mr Bachchan’s stand and were running social media campaigns against the celebrities endorsing such products.
Meanwhile, on the work front, the actor has been busy hosting the new season of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. Speaking of films, he will be seen in ‘Good Bye’, ‘Brahmastra’, and ‘The Intern’ remake.
