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Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product?

Introduction People should become more conscious now while buying the products - just because your favorite celebrities endorse it. Recently, a court notice was issued against celebrities like Ambitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit seeking an explanation from them regarding the promotion of Maggie Noodles.  The Indian food inspectors, have asked Nestle India to recall the consignments of Maggie Noodles from the Northern states of Uttar Pradesh. The inspectors claimed that Maggie contained a high amount of MSG and lead which are extremely harmful for the consumers. Currently, many states such as Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana have pulled out thesales of Maggie from the states.  Apart from Maggi, the consumption of many soft drinks such as Pepsi and Coke are also under scrutiny and analysis. Celebrities such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli have been promoting these products and may be next in line to end up in controversy.  But, is it justifiable to held these brand ambassadors responsible for promoting these unhealthy products? Let's take a look. Brand Ambassadors should be held responsible for the unhealthy product.  1. Misleading the consumers – The main role of an ambassador is to create awareness among the customers regarding a particular product. They should not mislead a consumer with wrong facts and figures. Most of the time, people buy certain products just because their favorite celebrities endorse it. 2. Research work – Brand ambassadors should be blamed if a product falls into a controversy because it is their responsibility to accept the role of an ambassador only after conducting a careful research. If not a research, they should at least try the product on themselves before endorsing it.  3. Celebrity Contract – Every celebrity signs a contract before endorsing a product. If a product fails to satisfy the consumers or falls into a controversy during the tenure of the contract, the brand ambassadors are equally responsible as the company.  Brand Ambassadors are not responsible for the unhealthy product.  1. Cannot take a look – It is not possible for the ambassadors to go into the manufacturing units of the products every time and take a look at the process. Thus, they cannot be held responsible if something goes wrong at the manufacturing or packaging stage.  2. Cannot send a notice to ambassadors – The court can send a notice to the company which manufactures the product and not to the ambassadors who promote them. Maggi is sold in various shops, and most of the times, shop keepers persuade the people to buy it. In such cases, the notice should be sent to shopkeepers also.  3. Messengers – Ambassadors are mere messengers who try to promote a product in the society. They are not responsible if the company breaks the promise and delivers an unhealthy product.  4. Credibility – Credibility of an ambassador is very important. Not every product are fake or unhealthy, thus, people believe the ambassador and buy the products. People or a company who try to sell unhealthy products try to take an advantage of the credibility function of the ambassador. 5. FDA should be held responsible - The license to sell a product in India is given by FDA. Only when this government agency gives license to sell a product in the market does the product come to the counters. If something has been authorised by the government body, there is no reason for the celebrities to doubt its authenticity. In such a case, rather than the celebrities, FDA should be held responsible. Conclusion Selecting a right ambassador is a crucial part of the marketing strategy. A right person who also knows how to handle a situation in crisis should be selected as a brand ambassador.  Celebrities who act as a brand ambassador of unhealthy products should not be crucified in the controversies. They can withdraw their name as the ambassador of the product later on, and can also give an explanation for endorsing the product, to an extent. But they should not be pulled to courts to get involved in any cases etc.

RE: Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product? eklqvya (06-4-2015) I don't like movie or the so called stars.. But in this topic I just cat support our goverment.. If the y pull the brand ambassador to the police station.. They also put the media in which the the controversial food advertisement shown. The shopkeepers who sold the food.. What could a ambassador do if the company Chang the product quality secretly... So gov should ban on the controversial company not the ambassador

RE: Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product? nida (06-4-2015) I will say that how can a brand ambassador is responsible for an unhealthy food,he only promtes the product not he make the products. so if something found wrong in the products then company launching the product is responsible.As he knows the right prroportion of ingredients to be used in the product,as well the the nutritional fact of the product. if the nutrition is not matching to the labelled on the wrapper they are liable for punishment but brand ambassdor the shown that the ingredients used in the produt is same as printed on the wrapper as they cant spen time in lab.And afterall the product they affirm verb - To agree, verify or concur; to answer positively. She affirmed that she would go when I asked her. - To support or encourage They did everything they could to affirm the children's self-confidence. antonyms - deny promotes are permitted by FDA distribution in market then why on brand ambassdar fir should be file .it should be fille on FDA officer because they are not doing their job properly. and if it so that brand bassdor are responsinle along with shopkeeper , customer are also responsible because they are encouraging these type of unhealthy product to spoil our immune system our health disastarly.

RE: Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product? PRIYA JOSHI (06-5-2015) Good morning everyone I will go in against of the topic, according to Act 23 and 54 of Food Security and standard Act,2006, any person who is misleading and promoting the product by highlighting its usefulllness by framing any statements, orally or written are liable to fine of 10 lakh.  So its the duty of brand ambassador to read the whole agreement carefully because being the icon of millions of people, crowd will definitely going to follow and purchase product. But businessman have the perspective of maximizing more and more profit, so there are maximum chances that in agreement they will show the product as healthy but in actual it's not. because apart from manufacturing department who make these products no one knows what are the actual integraints of product.  Brand ambassadors are giving surety of healthy product on the basis of whats written in the contract. So its the manufacturing departments and the most important is the clearing department, who gives surety that the product is not adulterated by giving rating to the products after various tests conducted on products.  If clearing department is clearing product then no one is faulty neither retailers, brand ambassadors nor employees of the company who are engaged in packaging and selling of product.  If any adulteration found then it completely point out to the corrupt working of food clearing department and manufacturing department of the organisation.

RE: Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product? Nikhil Jain (06-5-2015) I don't think brand ambassadors shall be held liable for advertising a product that is subsequently found to be unhealthy. I think it is the sole responsibility of the manufacturers for the nutritions and ingredients that are present in the product. Brand ambassadors are just a source of promotional advertisements. But if the brand ambassadors are aware of the fact that the products are not fit for human consumption then they shall be held liable for the same. It constitutes a contravention of law. Also it is concealing of facts and the contravention of right to information under the consumer protection act, 1986. Also it is very unethical if manufacturer and the ambassadors move forward to sway the masses in general towards turning their figures large. I would like to quote the example for Maggi noodles manufactured by Nestle which is high controversy during these days. How can we say that Amitabh Bacchan who used to advertise maggi two years before is responsible and accountable for the High amount of Lead and monosodium glutamate in its ingredients. Had he been aware of the fact, he had not done the endorsement. Yet if done, he then shall be held responsible. So summing up, ambassadors are only responsible for unhealthy products when they themselves knowing the fact, works against the society at large by advertising unhealthy products. Thanks

RE: Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product? t thrinadh (06-5-2015) in my opinion brand ambassadors are not responsible for unhealth companies use celebrities name and fame for create awareness among people about the product. if we take maggie case ambassadors are famous celebrities that's why court send notices.if ambassadors are common artists or junior artists then court dont sent notice because there is no use they are a common people .so finally celebrities should take care while deciding about particular product

RE: Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product? Arghya (06-5-2015) First of all,lets think why should nestle be punished.!! Bcoz it has brought an unhealthy product in market and said that that its healthy product. As a result people bought that product and the company earned lots of bucks.But now since it is found that the ad of the product is misleading,harming people and they earned money by wrong means,they has to face justice.. similarly a brand ambassador takes crores of money(which belong to consumers) for endorsing a product and motivates everyone to have the healthy food and have a bright future.. while signing the contract( worth crores),it hardly takes for few thousands bucks to check the quality of product.. This much they have to be careful while leading the common people.. So i dont find that the ambassadors are innocent..  And the point about shopkeepers,They dnt get extra money for advertising the product..only they get some profits,so it nt possible fr them to spend thousands of rupees fr testing all the products which he sells

RE: Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product? s lokesh kumar reddy (06-6-2015) hai friends now a days people blindly following their favorite celebrities. so they have some responsibility. so before going into the contract they must use the product and they have to visit the production units and know what type of ingredients using to make that product. it is not only the responsibility of brand ambassadors ,it is also responsibility of government. which make product into commercialization.  government have major responsibility. if they are keenly check the product then they know product have what type of effect on customers.if there is no effects govt allows the product,if there is any -ve effects govt will stop the product

RE: Should brand ambassadors be held responsible for an unhealthy product? Deepa Kaushik (06-9-2015) Brand ambassadors are ususally high profile people who lead others by example. When the society gives themthat much pride and prestige, they should have a sense of responsibility towards the society that they live-in. Every citizen of the country have the responsibility of preserving the health and environment. Brand ambassadors being given a special tag with a list of blind followers to promote them in every manner, carry an additional responsibility in preserving the health of the community. When a product pops-up to the market, the company hunbts for high-profile people to be their brand ambassador and promote their product. At such a point, it is the social responsibility of the brand ambassador to know the purity of the product they promote and the be very careful in their wordings. they might be speaking a simple text as a professional, but their words often become chants for the common man which mislead them. Still, we cannot blame the brand ambassadors completely for misleading. All of them are not scientists and they cannot subject every product to testing to scrutinize the same before going ahead with the brand promotion. Also, people now-a-days are very much smart and health conscious. Brand promotion is something that they can understand, so going completely on their wordings without using our brains is also to be blamed.  Hence, it is not only the brand ambassador, but every person should be vigilant of whatever product they use