Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) commissioner Tukaram Mundhe recently challenged celebrities and public figures endorsing paan and gutka products to apply the same standards to themselves and their families as they do while promoting such products to the public.
He specifically addressed the argument: “I am a commercial person, I am an actor, I am an actress, I am somebody, therefore, I am advertising it. “If you are advertising paan or gutka, then you should consume it first. Let your children consume it and make it a habit. Then tell everyone else to do it. Why should it work the other way around? “I hate to be a sycophant. Anybody. I hate sycophancy. It is not my responsibility. It is only the producer’s responsibility. Public figures also have a responsibility to understand what they are asking people to consume or believe.
Mundhe said at an NDTV event recently. Mundhe said people cannot have one set of standards in their personal lives and another when they are working professionally. If someone publicly tells people that a product is good, the same standard should apply to the person promoting it, he said. Double standards, multiple standards, multiple faces, I don’t like them,” he said, the NDTV report added. “That is not the case,” Mundhe said. He said an endorsement is not merely about lending one’s face to a brand. Mundhe said the issue goes beyond personal morality or ethics, pointing to the legal responsibilities of sponsors. He said the law does not permit misleading claims in relation to food or drugs. Mundhe later said during a press conference that Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff had responded to the show-cause notices.
