UnFair treatment of Fairness Creams

Aamir Khan has joined Amitabh Bachchan in the Bollywood Celebrity Brand-Bashing Club. While Amitabh did the unthinkable of pulling down a brand he once endorsed, Aamir recently criticized celebrities who endorsed products like fairness creams.

Is everyone entitled for a personal opinion? Yes, but then attacking  brands that has been legally allowed to operate in a land, with no provocation, calls for a motive on the part of the brand-basher. 

Amitabh called Pepsi 'poison' after his contract was over with the brand or say after Pepsi did not go for a fresh contract with Big B! Should he then return all the money that he received from Pepsi for endorsing the brand or should he apologize and take personal accountability for all those who consumed Pepsi for all those years when he was singing praises of Pepsi. In all likelihood he will do neither. 

Aamir finds fault with those who endorse fairness creams. If there is a company that manufactures this product and if there are people who want to consume the same, what is Aamir's problem? People who are using fairness creams are well aware of the uses and disuses of the product. They consume it at their own risk and for their own drives. In fact data suggests that fairness cream market is slowing down in India. According to numbers from research firm Nielsen, the fairness cream market has slowed down in value terms and shrunk in volume terms over the past few quarters. 

Ok! there are some who think Aamir or someone should tell consumers what to consume and what not to buy. No wonder we believe so much in regulation! It is like telling a person who can afford a Nano to buy a higher end car because Nano does not have air bags. Now if that person can afford only a Nano and is ready to bear the risk of owning that car, then why should anyone crib? 

"Please Aamir and Amitabh, gives us a break! We know what to do with our lives. Get a life and stop thinking that we cannot decide for ourselves." 

May be all this Aamir rantings are for promoting the latest edition of his program. Then perhaps it is fair to ask him why does he endorses a program whose philanthropic partner is a foundation whose associated company has been shown no-Reliance and asked some very serious questions by a 'common man' party! 

"Just a suggestion, Aamir, consider doing one episode of your program on these questions of Reliance."

Both Aamir and Amitabh seem to be on a personal brand and image building mission. There is nothing wrong with that except that they chose to do so at the cost of other brands. 

Engagement to a brand, organization or issue calls for free thinking and free market thinking. Let people and markets rule. Personal agendas can wait.