Amitabh Bachchan withdraws from Paan Masala ad, Anti-tabacco body welcomes the decision

This comes after the national anti-tobacco organisation requested the 79-year-old to withdraw from promoting pan masala as it would stop the youngster from getting addicted to tobacco.
Amitabh Bachchan withdraws from Paan Masala ad, Anti-tabacco body welcomes the decision

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has withdrawn from the paan masala advertising campaign and said that he has returned the money he received for promoting it.

A blog post, addressed by "the office of Mr Amitabh Bachchan", on Sunday night informed that he is no longer associated with the promotions.

"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. Mr Bachchan has terminated the contract with the brand, has written to them his termination and has returned the money received for the promotion," the post read.

This comes after the national anti-tobacco organisation requested the 79-year-old to withdraw from promoting pan masala as it would stop the youngster from getting addicted to tobacco.

Last month, Dr Shekhar Salkar, president of the National Organisation for Tabacco Eradication (NOTE) wrote a letter to Amitabh Bachchan, urging him to withdraw from surrogate Pan Masala advertising and highlighted the harmful impact of consumption of tobacco and pan masala products.

“As an Oncologist and member of NGO working in the field of tobacco cessation I am aggrieved and provoked to wage war against the dubious measures, such embellishment done by various influential and famous Bollywood actors like Shahrukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh, Hrithik Roshan had led to increased tobacco use among students, an age category that has now become a target audience for cigarette and tobacco companies, we consider the above names trivial, however, you are the superstar of the millennium and a person with humanity, professionalism and integrity and we look up to you as the pride of India”, the letter said.

On Monday, NOTE welcomed the decision taken by Amitabh Bachchan to withdraw from the surrogate advertisement and congratulated the actor for showing solidarity. “Dr Salark is happy that Mr Bachchan has taken this decision which will have a positive impact on society, it will also serve as a cue to other film personalities engaged in such embellishments of promoting Tobacco,” the press release stated.         

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