Amitabh Bachchan steps down as face of pan masala brand; returns promotion fees

Amitabh Bachchan has terminated his contract with a pan masala brand and returned the money he received for promoting it. This step comes days after he was approached by an NGO, National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) to step down from promoting the ad campaign on pan masala, stating that it would dissuade youngsters from getting addicted to tobacco. The 79-year-old had also faced criticism by his fans for the move. 

An official statement has been released in the form of a blog post addressed by "the office of Mr Amitabh Bachchan", informing that he is no longer associated with the brand. As per PTI reports, the statement says that the actor contacted the brand a few days after the commercial was aired and 'stepped out of it last week'. Checking upon this sudden decision, it was known that at the time of getting associated with the brand, Amitabh Bachchan had no clue about it falling under surrogate advertising. 

Amitabh Bachchan terminates contract with pan masala brand 

The post further read that the actor has terminated his contract with the brand by sending his termination in written and returned the money received for the promotion. The move came after NOTE president, Dr. Shekhar Salkar, wrote a letter to the actor, which mentioned the ill effects of pan masala on the health of citizens. It also stated that since Big B is the brand ambassador for the government's pulse polio campaign, he should opt out of the ads immediately. 

Only last month, one of the actor's top fans on Facebook dropped him a question on why he chose to endorse the pan masala brand. Responding to it, he stated that if some people are reaping benefits from the industry, one should not think as to ‘why am I getting associated with it?’. Iterating that one should think of it as 'our industry', he wrote that he gets paid for it. 

Meanwhile, the superstar, who is currently seen hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati on television, clocked his 79th birthday today. On the work front, he will appear in Brahmastra, Jhund, Goodbye as well as The Intern. He is also set to share screen space with Prabhas and Deepika Padukone in the project tentatively titled, ProjectK. 

(IMAGE: PTI)