Ranveer Singh and Amitabh Bachchan were the brand ambassadors last year. However, Bachchan withdrew himself from the campaign after public outrage.
Kamla Pasand has roped in veteran cricketers Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar for its latest Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign. Cricketers are usually seen promoting fantasy sports, automobiles and even FMCG products. But this is the first time that cricketers have been roped in to promote pan masala. The ad is airing on JioCinema as well as Star Sports.
The pan masala category has always relied on celebrities for the marketing of products. However, they have been under the scanner for a while now. Last year, Kamla Pasand had roped in actors Ranveer Singh and Amitabh Bachchan for a TVC. However, after public outrage, Bachchan terminated his contract with Kamla Pasand and returned the money received for the promotion.
The brand, however, continued to use the ad featuring Bachchan, after which he sent out a legal notice to the brand.
Actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar have also been criticised recently for promoting similar products.
Many netizens are now also calling out both Sehwag and Gavaskar for promoting an unhealthy product, while being associated with sports.
.@virendersehwag hope you kids watch this ad and start eating kamla pasand. pic.twitter.com/LmCj01htIj
— Daemon (@Four_Tea_Five) April 30, 2023
WHAT DID I JUST SEE!
Sunil Gavaskar & Virender Sehwag are the latest brand ambassadors of Kamla Pasand & together they feature in a (needless to say) cringe-max advertisement!#IPL— Nish Navalkar (@YUVI_NISH) April 28, 2023
The most weird ad I have ever seen is My Favourite Sunny Gavaskar doing Kamla Pasand Commercial now a days… i am finding it really funny Gavaskar having kamla pasand pan masala 😁😁😁 #SunilGavaskar
— Samip Rajguru (@samiprajguru) April 30, 2023
Dear, Sunil Gavaskar and Virendra Sehwag ,
2 different generations consider you idols, get inspired from you and whatever you have achieved, promoting cancerous pan masala at this age of life is so shameful, all this just for some money? #KKRvsGT pic.twitter.com/l8Q0kYTPjO— Roshan Rai (@RoshanKrRaii) April 29, 2023