Speaking to a gathering of film industry figures, President Murmu warned that celebrities, especially those who influence children and young people, should promote disciplined lifestyles and avoid lending their fame to products linked to tobacco, areca nut or other health‑harmful substances.
The Maharashtra FDA has issued show‑cause notices to the three actors, alleging that the Vimal Elaichi campaign creates an association with Vimal Pan Masala – a product whose manufacture, storage, transport, distribution and sale are prohibited in the state – and may constitute illegal surrogate advertising.
The legal battle over the notices reached the Delhi High Court, which on September 14 declined to entertain a challenge on territorial‑jurisdiction grounds and directed the petitioner to approach the appropriate court in Maharashtra. The court did not rule on whether the advertisements amount to surrogate advertising.
Public‑health advocates have long highlighted the risk that celebrity endorsements give socially acceptable imagery to tobacco‑related products, a concern amplified by the large youth audience of Bollywood stars. Earlier instances have seen Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar linked to pan‑masala promotions, with Kumar withdrawing from a Vimal campaign in 2022 after criticism.
Arun Gupta, convener of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), told The Hindu that the President’s appeal must be backed by a clear legal framework covering endorsements of harmful products, including tobacco and ultra‑processed foods, noting that current self‑regulation is ineffective.
Oncologist Sandeep Nayak of KIMS Hospitals in Bengaluru said the President’s remarks underscore the public‑health impact of celebrity‑driven promotion of carcinogenic products, warning that brand extensions using identical logos and colour palettes can glamorise pan‑masala, alcohol and related items for impressionable youth.
National surveys underscore the scale of the problem: the National Family Health Survey‑5 (2019‑21) found 21.4% of Indians aged 15‑49 use smokeless tobacco, while the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2016‑17) estimated 28.6% of adults – about 267 million people – use tobacco, with smokeless forms being the most common. A WHO study placed the economic cost of tobacco‑related disease and premature death at ₹1.77 lakh crore in 2017‑18, over 1% of India’s GDP, and treatment costs at 5.3% of total health expenditure.
The episode has reignited debate over whether India’s advertising regulations keep pace with the influence of celebrity endorsements, and experts are urging the government to enact a clearly worded law that would prohibit marketing of unhealthy products through high‑profile personalities.