Amitabh Bachchan has withdrawn from a paan masala advertising campaign after facing backlash from his fans over a commercial that aired featuring the star. The actor’s blog post known as “The Office of Mr Amitabh Bachchan” announced that Amitabh Bachchan has terminated his contract with the paan masala brand.
The blogpost said, “A few days after the commercial was aired, Mr Bachchan contacted the brand and stepped out of it last week. 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”.
It further added that “Mr Bachchan has terminated the contract with the brand, has written to them his termination and has returned the money received for the promotion”.
Mr Bachchan was also approached by the NGO, National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) last month to not be a part of advertisements that promote paan masala brands.
Shekhar Salkar who is the President of National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) and also a Goa-based oncologist appreciated the actor’s move saying, “NOTE welcomes the decision taken by Amitabh Bachchan to withdraw from all surrogate advertisements related to tobacco products with immediate effect and would like to congratulate the superstar for showing solidarity to the efforts made by the government and non-governmental organisations in the fight against tobacco.”