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Introduction
There has been a growing trend in which the products manufactured by multinational companies get endorsed by celebrities through advertisement campaigns. The celebrities come and endorse these products with a good intention that the average person would get health benefits from them. The television channels and radio broadcasters then air them to reach the maximum number of people across India. The products were of good quality, posing no threat to the public at the time of the endorsement. The companies cannot run these advertisements for longer period as these products have to get tested periodically in reputed labs to assure their quality. In the current scenario, the endorsements made decades ago are still being used to attract people. Hence, we cannot hold the celebrities responsible for the endorsements done by them many years ago.
Product Endorsements
Products manufactured by the multinational companies need to get marketed to reach the society. The people need to get educated about their salient features. Every year, the Indian and multinational companies spend crores of rupees on marketing and endorsements. There is a product marketing department for all the companies. Yet, these companies go for the product endorsements by the popular stars from tinsel town to attract the ordinary people. The stars of the Bollywood endorse these products after taking some money from these companies with the belief that the products indeed have the qualities claimed by them. The stars don’t have at their disposal an expert opinion to verify these claims.
Are these Celebrities Responsible for Product Debacle?
In good times, Nestle products such as Maggi Noodles used to go off the shelves of Indian retail outlets just like hot cakes. At that time, nobody questioned the product quality. Hence, the Bollywood celebrities came forward to endorse them in good faith. With the change in times, the situation changed. Many of these endorsements have become outdated. Recently, the cine actress Preity Zinta shot back when the issues with Nestle products snowballed into a big controversy in India. She told the media guys that she endorsed the product in question about 12 years back when its quality was good. Hence, she asked the people to absolve her of these charges. Other Indian actors who endorsed the Nestle products have also aired similar views. They are Amitabh Bachchan and Maduri Dixit.
Should there be Time Limit for Endorsements?
People need to bring in a time limit for the product endorsements. This would help the Bollywood celebrities to stay in good stead when the products endorsed by them fail to comply with the required standards many years later. This view gets significance in light of the present controversy involving the Nestle products such as Maggi Noodles, Kurkure, etc. in India. Reportedly, these products have failed the tests prescribed by the government. Hence, the government should bring in legislation to make sure that the older product endorsements become obsolete after a specific period. The companies need to get the certificate from the competent authorities on the product quality before they go for product endorsement and marketing.
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