Tobacco Ad controversy: IAS officer shares Gutkha stained picture of Howrah Bridge, seeks answers from Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn

Published by Aman Shukla on 23 Apr 2022

For the last couple of days, there is a solid debate over Bollywood superstars endorsing a pan-masala brand. Everything began with Akshay Kumar joining Ajay Devgn and Shah Rukh Khan in a commercial to promote elaichi by a pan-masala brand. It received heavy backlash and Akshay Kumar eventually stepped out of the deal. He took to his social media accounts to apologize to his fans and shared that he won’t ever do the same again. He even promised to donate the money he earned from the advertisement.

Currently, the stars have once again come under the radar as an IAS officer has tweeted about the gutkha-stained Howrah bridge An IAS official named Awanish Sharan posted an image of Howrah Bridge and wrote, “Kolkata Port Trust has said saliva laced with gutkha is corroding the iconic 70-year-old bridge. The Howrah Bridge is under attack from gutkha-chewers.” He then tagged Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan.

Kolkata Port Trust has said saliva laced with gutkha is corroding the iconic 70-year-old bridge. The Howrah Bridge is under attack from gutkha-chewers. @shahrukh_35 @akshaykumar @ajaydevgn @SrBachchan

Source: Google pic.twitter.com/sriVMIULig

— Awanish Sharan (@AwanishSharan) April 21, 2022

देखिए ‘गुटका प्रेमियों’ की सुविधा के लिए ‘कोलकाता पोर्ट ट्रस्ट’ ने कितना बढ़िया उपाय किया है.

अब गुटका थूकने वालों को कोई ‘अपराध बोध’ का सामना नहीं करना होगा. साथ ही पुल की रक्षा भी ‘गुटके की हानिकारक केमिकल’ से की जा सकेगी. @iamsrk @ajaydevgn @akshaykumar pic.twitter.com/0TN67YiqU5

— Awanish Sharan (@AwanishSharan) April 22, 2022

While Akshay Kumar withdrew from the advertisment, Ajay Devgn defended his decision and said at an event, “It is a personal choice. When you do something, you also see how harmful it would be. Somethings are harmful, some are not. I would say it without naming it because I don’t want to promote it; I was doing elaichi. What I feel is more than advertisements, if certain things are so wrong, then they should not be sold.”