Sportstars in the Kamla Pasand advertisement: More than just an issue of bad taste

By himself, Cristiano Rolando reduced Coca-Cola's market worth by $4 billion by removing the cola bottles during a press conference for the Euro 2020. Following his notorious Vimal gutka ad starring Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar was forced to apologize to his fans. Celebrity Amitabh Bachchan chose against endorsing Pepsi almost ten years ago after receiving a reality check from a young girl in Jaipur who compared the soda to "poison." That is, at least, what we have been informed.

Given their influence over the public, celebrities have always been subject to greater standards when it comes to product endorsements. However, occasionally a renowned person will make a dubious brand endorsement, which opens an ethical discussion.

The most recent one to do so is Kamala Pasand's IPL commercial featuring cricket greats Sunil Gavaskar and Virendra Sehwag.

The pair's most recent appearance was in a pan masala brand advertisement. The advertisement itself is not particularly noteworthy. They have a brief, unmemorable conversation about "humara generation and nayi generation ki soch." They both eat Kamla Pasand's silver-plated elaichi in the end and call it a night.

The internet, as expected, wasn't having it. In cricket, Gavaskar and Sehwag both have illustrious histories that span two generations. Outrage is unavoidable when such revered celebrities support a company that sells a drug that causes mouth cancer and is addictive.

The lighthearted conversation between the two cricketers in the advertisement about the generation divide was enjoyable, but that was about all that Subhodh Chaubey, Creative Director at Infectious Advertising, liked. The brand connection is far too thin. The harm caused by sportspeople endorsing such things, in my opinion, is greater since they are idolized as people rather than just as entertainers. The ex-cricketers are also entitled to be featured in this advertisement, therefore I believe it is their call. The court of public opinion will decide the rest, he argues.