Click to play videoMumbai: The entertainment industry may be recession proof but the advertising world sure isn't. With several leading brands deciding to drop big Bollywood stars from their list of endorsers, the stars are definitely beginning to feel the pinch now.
Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukherji, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are some of the big names who have been shown thumbs down by brands they have endorsed for years. Are they too costly to have in a recessive market or are the brands simply looking to go for younger faces?
They managed to rope in a 40-plus Shah Rukh Khan even for their Youngistan campaign but then Pepsico decided against renewing it's contract with it's most expensive brand ambassador... settling for new faces Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone instead.
Shah Rukh Khan said, "Yes I am no longer a Pepsi ambassador- I have been removed, they have thrown me out, I am without work now."
But SRK isn’t the only victim of recession in the ad world. Auto majors Hyundai and Toyota - have dropped Bollywood's biggest stars Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan as their respective brand ambassadors. And though Coca Cola has retained Aamir as it's star endorser, it has dropped the other big name - Hrithik Roshan.
Nakshatra Jewellery has replaced Aishwarya with Katrina Kaif while both Fanta and Perk have taken on Genelia D'souza instead of Rani Mukherji.
Ad filmmaker Abhinay Deo said, "In recession people are willing to experiment more because experimenting is obviously going to be cheaper for them when a client experiments with a new brand ambassador who is a fresh face...its a circle of life, newer people come are welcome by the market, filmmakers...plus they are in terms of a prive tag would be much better than paying a whole sum of money."
Looks like when everyone's trying to cut corners to survive the economic slowdown, expensive brand ambassadors easily become the first victims of the cash crunch.
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