One of the fittest actors of Bollywood, John Abraham, recently opened up on his choice to not to pan masala ads, despite companies offering huge amount of money for the same. He compared doing those advertisements to "selling death" and stated that it was against his principles to do such ads.
During his chat with Ranveer Allahbadia, John stated that one can prove their love for the country by being a role model and doing the right thing. "One one hand, I talk about fitness, and on the other hand, I can't go about selling pan masala," he said.
'You are selling death': John Abraham
Explaining the reason behind being adamant about not endorsing pan masala, John said, "I am not taking a dig at actors who do these ads, but I am only speaking for myself here. I will not sell death. I will never do it because for me, it is a matter of principles."
He went on to say, "The pan masala industry has a yearly turnover of Rs 45,000 crore, and that is why, the government also supports this, and hence, it is not illegal. You get lots of money from it. But at the end of the day, it's your choice, and I have chosen to not endorse pan masala because I feel it's wrong."
"People selling it come up with reasons like it's not tobacco, it's just elaichi drops and so on, but my question is what are you selling? You are selling death. How can you live with it?" he added.
Bollywood celebs and pan masala
Some of the biggest names of Bollywood, including Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Tiger Shroff, Akshay Kumar, and others are known for endorsing pan masala.
A couple of years back, a pan masala ad by Akshay Kumar triggered a massive controversy with people slamming him for endorsing a healthy lifestyle and pan masala at the same time. Later, the actor had issued an apology for disappointing his fans, and had also vowed to not do pan masala ads anymore.
In 2022, south superstar Mahesh Babu too was slammed for promoting a pan masala brand.
.heic)
