Amitabh Bachchan has announced his termination of the contract with a Paan masala brand as he further said that he was not aware that it falls under surrogate advertising. In the recent blog post, he revealed that he stepped back as the face of the Paan masala brand because he was unaware of the details. Amitabh Bachchan was also criticized by many as he promoted the Paan masala brand. According to the statement that is shared in his blog post which said, “from the office of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan”, it mentioned, “Kamla pasand – a few days after the commercial was aired, Mr. Bachchan contacted the brand and then stepped out of it last week.” The statements were the relief that Amitabh Bachchan was not aware of the knowledge that it categorizes into surrogate advertising while signing the contract with the Kamla pasand. It said, “upon checking why this sudden move – it was revealed that when Mr. Bachchan became associated with the brand he was unaware that it falls under surrogate advertising.”
Further, the statement also revealed that Amitabh Bachchan has returned the money he received for the promotion after he terminated his contract with the Paan masala brand. Regarding this, the statement informed, “Mr. Bachchan has terminated the contract with the brand, has written to them his termination and has returned the money received for the promotion. “
Well, this statement by Amitabh Bachchan was made after he got a massive backlash for endorsing the Paan masala brand. The National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE), which is an NGO, reached out to Amitabh Bachchan and appealed to him not to endorse or act in the commercials that promote Paan masala brands. The National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication reached out to Mr. Bachchan last month. Dr. Shekhar Salkar the president of the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication said that Amitabh Bachchan should withdraw from surrogate Paan masala advertisements and that he should support the Anti-tobacco movement. Many of the netizens took Twitter and requested Amitabh Bachchan not to advertise this type of surrogate brand.
As Amitabh Bachchan took the step by terminating the contract and not endorsing the Paan masala brand, netizens hailed Amitabh Bachchan for this step. Even though Amitabh Bachchan faced backlash before, but as he took this good initiative, netizens thanked him for taking a stand.
One Twitter user wrote, “public pressure works. Thanks to @SrBachchan for understanding the public sentiment and having responsibility towards the youth. Other Bollywood guys take a cue and stay away from similar & vulgar endorsements.” While another one wrote, “Amitabh Bachchan Ji terminates contract with Paan masala brand! It’s a Big Win!” Yet another one wrote, “great job @SrBachchan proud of what you have done.”
What is Surrogate advertising?
Well, those wondering about what surrogate advertising means, it is a special form of advertising where some of the banned products such as alcohol and cigarettes are promoted but in disguise as another product. For example, a brand can advertise a club soda or a bottle of mineral water in place of alcohol under the same brand name. You may also have come across such as where the brands advertise alcohol but in a form of music CDs. The idea behind this is to familiarise people with the branch so that people start to associate it with the product the brand initially wanted to promote, such as cigarettes or alcohol.
Well talking about the work front, Amitabh Bachchan has a series of projects that are lined up for now. Amitabh Bachchan will be soon seen in Jhund, Brahmastra Goodbye, Uunchai, Mayday, and an untitled film of Nag Ashwin. Now, Amitabh Bachchan is currently hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati on television.
