Amitabh Bachchan has terminated his contract with a pan masala brand, saying that he wasn’t aware that it ‘falls under surrogate advertising’. This comes after he had been requested by a national anti-tobacco organization to withdraw himself from the ad campaign, which promoted pan masala, saying that it would stop youngsters from getting addicted to tobacco. His fans had also criticised the move.A statement from his team read, “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.” Surrogate advertising is a form of advertising which is used to promote banned products, like cigarettes and alcohol, in the disguise of another product.
Earlier, a letter had been addressed to Amitabh Bachchan and Shekhar Salkar, President National Organization For Tobacco Eradication, stating that pan masala impacts the health of citizens. It also added that since Big B is the government brand ambassador for the pulse polio campaign, he should drop out of pan masala ads immediately. Previously, a top fan of Amitabh Bachchan had asked him on Facebook, “Hello sir, I have just one question for you. What is the need for you to advertise about a paan masala brand? Then what is the difference between you and these petty artists?” Calmly responding to the query, Big B had explained, "I ask for your forgiveness. If someone is doing well in their industry, then one should not wonder 'why am I associated with it?' If that is a business, then we should think about our business too. Now, you feel that I should not have done this, but by doing this, I get paid and there are many people working in our profession, who are workers, and in a way they too get work and money. Besides, gentleman, please don't use the word 'tatpunjiya'. It doesn't look good coming from you and it does not suit all the artists who belong to our industry."On the work front, Amitabh Bachchan has a number of films in the pipeline. His upcoming projects include Brahmastra with Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor, Mayday with Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh and Nagraj Munjule's sports drama Jhund.