'Mahesh Babu Guilty Of Endorsing Bad Habits'?

Can an actor and brand ambassador influence consumers enough to get them addicted to a product? Two men from Andhra Pradesh believe so, and have accused tollywood actor Mahesh Babu of promoting alcohol that resulted in them becoming alcoholics.

The two men, Satish Kumar and Amru Naik, have approached the State Human Rights Commission with the complaint that they began consuming a particular brand of alcohol that was endorsed by the actor, and since then their lives have gone downhill, stated a report.

The duo claim to have been blindly consuming products endorsed by the actors and their consequent alcoholism has resulted in them losing their jobs, ill health, financial losses and family members abandoning them.  A statement by the actor that alcohol was not injurious to health didn’t help matters.

Their demands? Not surprisingly, compensation from the actor, but also the assurance that actors wouldn’t endorse alcohol-related products in the future. They also want existing advertisements featuring the actor to be removed.

The state body has asked for a report from the Director General of Police and kept the matter for hearing on 5 June.