Amitabh Bachchan recently celebrated his 79th birthday.
The veteran actor has now backed out from a deal with a pan-masala brand and even returned the whopping promotion fee.
The move came after Kamla Pasand’s ad starring Big B and Ranveer Singh drew flak from the netizens and the national anti-tobacco organisation.
As per Big B’s official statement retracting from the campaign, the actor had confessed that he was allegedly not aware it falls under surrogate advertising.
“Kamala Pasand … 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 statement said, as per Indian Express report.
What is surrogate advertising? It is used to promote regulated products – like cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol (which cannot be advertised on mass media) in the disguise of another product.
