Celebrity status no shield in Vimal ad case, says Maharashtra FDA chief

Maharashtra's food and drug regulator has made clear that fame will not exempt three of Indian cinema's biggest names from action over a Vimal Elaichi advertisement it considers a front for a banned product.

Food and Drug Administration commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said the agency has begun adjudication and prosecution in the case of one of the three actors who did not reply to a show-cause notice within the deadline. He did not say which of the three had failed to respond.

"According to you they may be stars, but according to me they are only advertisers in this case," Mundhe said. "So I am looking at them as violators of the law, and the law will take its own course. That's why we have started taking action."

The notices were issued on August 11 to Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff, giving each 15 days to respond. Two of the three replied, Mundhe said. Asked specifically about Khan's team, he said it was likely no response had come, though he was not certain.

The two who replied argued that responsibility for the product should rest with its manufacturer. Mundhe said those submissions would be weighed during hearings to be conducted by the assistant commissioner who issued the notices.

He rejected the suggestion that endorsers bear no liability when a manufacturer is answerable for making and selling the product. Advertising rules under the Food Safety Act, he said, place a specific duty on whoever is advertising, including an obligation of due diligence about what is being endorsed.

"To say that it is not upon them is wrong," he said, adding that his position rested on legal responsibility, not just moral expectation.

The department's case is that the advertisement amounted to surrogate promotion of Vimal Pan Masala, a product prohibited in Maharashtra. Surrogate advertising refers to the promotion of a restricted product through an associated brand or product.