The Tukaram Mundhe Effect: Celebrities Reluctant To Promote Unhealthy Food Items?

There's a new term going around - ‘The Tukaram Mundhe effect’, and it’s turning out to be injurious for celebrity brand endorsements, particularly around food. While his actions against celebrities regarding a pan masala ad has stirred up things, buzz in industry circles suggests that now actors are reluctant to take fresh advertisement campaigns regarding unhealthy food items such as burgers, chips and also cold drinks, as they feel that they would land up under Mundhe’s radar and fall in trouble.

It all started online

However, before Mundhe’s crackdowns, increasingly celebrities had started to get called out online for their various food and drink related endorsements. The anger stemmed from the fact that while they themselves maintain the strictest of fitness standards and eat clean, the products which they endorsed are unhealthy.

While influencer Revant Himatsingka has been at the forefront of exposing how unhealthy some of India’s most trusted and loved brands are, it was fitness YouTuber Nitin Maurya who went viral for a video where he spoke about celebrities who talk about the benefits of going sugar-free and junk-free diets in interviews, while promoting soft drinks, fast-food burger chains, and chocolates.

He called out Kartik Aaryan for telling fans to stay away from burgers and pizzas, while endorsing fast-food burger outlets. The YouTuber also mentioned Alia Bhatt and Hrithik Roshan for claiming that they avoid sugar in their daily lives while featuring in prominent chocolate and confectionery brand commercials.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu was called out for promoting clean eating and coconut oil on podcasts while endorsing processed snacks, sunflower oil, and chocolates. However, in 2025, in a podcast with Himatsingka, she went on to say, “When I entered this industry in my 20s, the symbol of success was based on the number of projects you have, the number of brands you endorse and how many brands want your face on their products and I was very happy that all of these big multinational brands wanted me as their brand ambassador. She added, “I have given up and said no to more than 15 brands just last year, and of course that’s crores and crores of money.”

Sara Ali Khan, too, was discussed about appearing in commercial fast-food ads while talking about avoiding junk food.

Aap chronology samajhiye

As the newly appointed Commissioner of the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA), IAS officer Tukaram Mundhe made headlines for cracking down on pan masala, specifically, with the Maharashtra FDA issuing show-cause notices to Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Tiger Shroff for their appearances in the advertisements for Vimal Elaichi. According to the FDA, it acts as an illegal indirect channel to promote banned tobacco and pan masala products. What started looking only as an aggressive crackdown on food establishments, has now got the celebrities on its target list too.

Mundhe has made it clear that under the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, promoters and celebrities cannot plead ignorance, and can face up to `10 lakh or stricter penalties.

No responses yet from SRK, Ajay, Tiger

On Wednesday itself, during a press meet organised by the Mumbai Press Club, Mundhe said that they were yet to receive a response from Khan, Devgn and Shroff, also adding that promoting a product was not necessarily wrong, but publicising it in an improper manner was.

Addressing the issue on commercials and surrogate advertising, Mundhe had said, “Whatever advertisements we see - whether in newspapers, on television or on social media - are under our radar. We are watching for violations.”

The notice, which was issued on August 11, had described the celebrities as brand endorsers, and sought their response within 15 days.

Not a new phenomenon

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was directed to file an affidavit furnishing the relevant data with regard to the complaints received by the Food, Safety and Standard Authority of India and the action taken on such complaints relating to penalty of food not of the nature or substance or quality demanded, sub-standard food, misbranded food, misleading advertisements and food containing extraneous matter under the Food, Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

What does the future hold

No one really knows what is going to happen right now, as this whole movement is in its initial stages. Will it pave the way for more responsible advertising on behalf of celebrities? That certainly seems like a step in the right direction, so that celebrities also think twice before accepting to promote any products which could be injurious to the health of those consuming them. The Free Press

Journal reached out to Mundhe’s office for his thoughts on the ‘Tukaram Mundhe effect', at the time of going to print we had not received a response.

Published on: Friday, August 28, 2026, 09:42 PM IST