Actor Emraan Hashmi recently refused to endorse a condom brand claiming he didn’t want to be associated with raunchiness anymore. He said, “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. Doing such an ad would only amplify the image I am trying to move away from.” However, though unintentionally, do we judge actors with the kind of products they endorse?
Author Vikrant Dutta says, “I think it does matter to a certain degree when we see actors or sportspersons endorsing certain products and yet to define someone based on what they endorse is immature and narrow. To have a celebrity promoting the brand is a bonus for the company and the one who endorses is merely a small agent. And yet, with time, some celebrities have been accorded a larger than life persona and unfortunately they tend to take it seriously.”
Agrees Parth Verma, a media student, “For a celeb to endorse a brand and for the endorsement to work, two things are important. Certain traits of the brand must be in sync with that of the celeb, for example Akshay Kumar is generally thought of as an action hero, so adventure is what comes to mind. Hrithik Roshan brings the element of machismo to the brand. And when it comes to Emraan Hashmi, the first thing that comes to people’s mind is ‘bold’. Hence, he automatically gets associated with products for adults. But it is totally upto him to be associated with the brand or not.”
Others argue that condom ads hint at safe sex and nothing else. So if someone thinks that being a part of such campaigns sullies their image, it shows their regressive thinking. However, advertising professional Faraaz Kazi says that people definitely judge actors with the kind of products they endorse. “Remember the Amul Macho ‘Yeh to bada toing hai’ campaign. For a long time, the model in the ad was criticised for her expressions even though she was fully clothed and shown to be traditional. That’s how people perceive. Indian audience is a lot more opinionated now than in the past. Stereotyping is something that we do all the time. The image of the celeb also depends on the way the ad is being shot and the way it is presented to the audience, thus they are as likely to grab negatives as they are likely to grab positives.”