Make brand ambassadors accountable to endorsements: CAIT

Traders' body CAIT today said that brand ambassadors should be made accountable with respect to liability arising out of claims made by them in advertisements.
"In case we do not hear anything from the government, we shall be left with no other alternative but to move the matter to Court," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in a letter to Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
In its communication today, CAIT has termed brand ambassadors as "service providers" since they endorse product generally under a contract and against considerations. It has also said that endorsements by brand ambassadors influence choice of the consumer to a great extent.

"It is a well known fact that endorsements are done solely with a motive to push sales of the products and as such the brand ambassadors become integral part of sales campaign of such products and can not escape from the liability of the claims made by them in endorsements," the traders body said.
It further pointed out that the brand ambassadors are "not doing any charity" but providing commercial services and as such their role needs to be defined. Being a celebrity, one can not be absolved from the responsibility, CAIT said.
In June, Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Preity Zinta were slapped with notices by the Tamil Nadu consumer forum on a petition seeking a direction to them not to promote Maggi noodles on "false representations" about quality and safety.