In recent years, several Bollywood stars have openly advertised harmful products like gutkha and pan masala on television and social media. Recently, megastar Amitabh Bachchan was criticised by fans and social activists for promoting a pan masala brand alongwith Ranveer Singh. Latest reports suggest that Big B has terminated his contract with the brand and he'll no longer promote it.

Apparently, while signing the deal, Mr Bachchan didn't realise that his ad will be a part of surrogate advertising. Now he has detached himself from the brand and also returned his fees for the ad. An official statement from Big B's side read, "Kamala Pasand … a few days after the commercial was aired, Mr Bachchan contacted the brand and stepped out of it last week . Upon checking why this sudden move – it was revealed that when Mr Bachchan became associated with the brand , he wasn’t aware that it falls under surrogate advertising Mr Bachchan has terminated the contract with the Brand, has written to them his termination and has returned the money received for the promotion."

Few weeks ago, Amitabh Bachchan replied to a fan who questioned his involvement with the pan masala brand. He said, “If some people are getting benefits from an industry, we should not think as to ‘why am I getting associated with it?’ If it is an industry, then we too should think of it as our industry. Now, you may think that I should not be doing it, but I get paid for it.”