Point Counter Point

Should celebrities be made liable for the products they endorse?

Best Speaker Award - Odyssey Silver Tongue Debates - July 2015

Interschool Competition with 100+ participants

Link to news report: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/over-100-students-participate-in-debating-contest/article7471992.ece

My prize winning speech

Wimbledon Champion Sania Mirza is the brand ambassador of Telengana!

Wimbledon Champion Steffi Graff is the Ayurveda brand ambassador of Kerala!

Good evening everybody, Tennis legends endorsing the ‘state of affairs’ seems to

be getting as exciting as the Wimbledon. But why an uproar in the Harayana

Assembly, for making Baba Ramdev, the brand ambassador of Yoga & Ayurveda?

Looks like some of Incredible India’s brand ambassadors will be banned

ambassadors soon. After Amitabh Bachan was made Gujarat’s tourism brand

ambassador, media subsequently reported that Amir Khan was roped in by

Chhattisgarh, Shah Rukh Khan was roped in by West Bengal, Preity Zinta was

roped by Himachal Pradesh and Go crazy, go wild, go Goa says Goa’s brand

ambassador Prachi Desai. Should these Celebrities who have been ‘roped in to

promote tourism’ be made liable for anything that messes up a holiday.

Well in that case, Madhuri Dixit the celebrity who was held responsible for the

Maggie episode must also be held responsible for the Vyapam scam as she also

happens to be the brand ambassador of maternal and child health campaign in

Madhya Pradesh. Can she be made liable if the doctor providing health care did

not truly deserve to be a doctor! Similarly, if Maggie was not ‘fast to cook or good

to eat’ then she should have been held responsible, as, that is all that she states.

There are numerous advertisements that do not use celebrity branding but yet

their captions make false claims about the products. It is my strong conviction

that a universal approach be adopted by making the company solely responsible

and liable for the captions that they formulate to promote the product.

With the condition of the Chennai roads isn’t it a tough decision to make between

the tyres that are born tough and those with muscles. And the German Michelin

Man with his suggestion on “a better way forward” only complicates the decision

further. From a Complan boy to the Complete man with Raymond, life can get a

lot complicated in between with the “Less effort more style” option offered by

the one and only axe effect. And finally if you don’t land up with that perfect life

partner do you end up blaming Bharath Matrimony.com

My dear friends, Captions and Celebrities will always be around to promote

products by strategically endorsing certain functional aspects of the product. We

may not be in a position to hold them responsible. We may not be in a position to

trust them either. But we have Google! Just Google before your shop!! And you

will be able to tell yourself that ‘Yehi hei right choice! Aa ha!!’

Thank you