Amitabh Bachchan, the Hindi actor, has sent a legal notice to the pan masala brand Kamla Pasand for continuing to air TV commercials featuring him despite the termination of their contract.
On October 11, the actor had announced his withdrawal from the brand after a national anti-tobacco organisation requested him to refrain from doing a surrogate advertisement for pan masala, which can harm “precious lives of youth and fellow citizens.”
Surrogate advertising is when a company decides to advertise one product, which cannot be legally advertised, by using a surrogate product of the same brand. In such an advertisement, the substitute or surrogate product will either resemble the original product or can be a different product from the same brand.
“Came to know from the office of Mr Bachchan that a legal notice has been sent to Kamla Pasand to stop broadcasting the TV commercials with Mr Bachchan immediately… as it was noticed that despite termination of the endorsement agreement, Kamla Pasand has ignored the same and is seen to continue airing the TV commercials,” a source close to the actor confirmed to Indian Express.
On his 79th birthday, Bachchan had taken to his blog and said he was not aware that his endorsement of the pan masala brand falls under surrogate advertising. “Mr Bachchan has terminated the contract with the brand, has written to them his termination, and returned the money received for the promotion,” the blog post said.
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However, a few days prior to his statement, when the actor was called out by a fan on Facebook for endorsing the pan masala brand, Bachchan replied, “I ask for your forgiveness. If someone is doing well in their industry, then one should not wonder, ‘Why am I associated with it?’ If that is a business, then we should think about our business too. Now, you feel that I should not have done this, but by doing this, I get paid and there are many people working in our profession, who are workers, and in a way, they too get work and money.”
It is worth noting that celebrities such as Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh, and Shah Rukh Khan have also advertised for pan masala brands such as Vimal Elaichi and Kamla Pasand.
The pan masala market in India reached a value of Rs 45,585 crore in 2020. Research firm IMARC Group expects the market to touch Rs 69,518 crore by 2026.