Why celebs vote for moral ad-vantage
Satyamev Jayate host Aamir Khan has reportedly turned down a luxury car endorsement worth a “few crores” as he only wants to work on ads that are socially relevant. He did not sign up for it as it didn’t come under the umbrella of social issues.
Like his uncle, Imran Khan, who was offered a fat endorsement activity by an Indian vodka brand, declined to sign the offer saying that one should not endorse products that he or she doesn’t believe in.
And the most surprising one came from serial kisser Emraan Hashmi who refused to endorse or do commercials for condom companies. He said, “There were a lot of reasons why I said no! I don’t want to endorse anything or be a part of a campaign that’s overtly sexual in nature. A condom advertisement would leave a certain impact on the audience.”
Author and advertising professional Milan Vohra is all praise for Aamir Khan for turning down the offer to promote products he doesn’t believe in. She says, “Even when he was anchoring for SMJ, he wasn’t shooting for any adverts and even postponed the release of his film Talaash. He had his priorities set and focused on the thing he completely believed in. So this news doesn’t surprise me. He has set an example for others to do things they have faith in.”
Actor Karisma Kapoor adds, “I definitely believe in all the products that I endorse. I’m lucky to have been endorsing quite a few products. But I feel till the time I’m personally not satisfied with the product, I would not really ask people to go for it.”
Fans are impressed with the actor’s gesture and say that other actors should take a lesson from him. “If others follow suit we won’t have actors suggesting us to buy face creams that can turn us into fairies or coaxing us into buying things we don’t want and will never need,” says Piyush Gautam, a finance executive with an asset management firm.
Times have changed and actors should take moral responsibility of their acts, says banker Lalit Sen and adds, “The new Virat Kohli ad where he tricks a girl into sharing her number may not sound harmful on the surface but Virat being a youth icon will be followed by youngsters, who will find the ad ‘cool’ and emulate him. So public figures should be careful about how they represent themselves even in fiction.”
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