Thiruvananthapuram:
The appearance of some top Malayalam actors in advertisements endorsing liquor and gold came in for sharp criticism in the Kerala Assembly today. Raising the issue during the question hour, CPI(M)'s P Viswan sought to know if it was morally correct on the part of the actors to promote liquor and gold by becoming brand ambassadors for distilleries and jewellers.
Viswan's poser received instant support from senior Congress legislator and former Culture Minister G Karthikeyan. "There is even an instance of a film star asking consumers through a commercial to purchase ornaments from a particular jeweller and side by side acts as the ambassador for a private financing company urging people to deposit gold at their disposal in the firm instead of keeping it idle at home," Karthikeyan said.
Food and Consumer Affairs Minister C Divakaran said this was a moral question to be addressed to the artists themselves and the government could do very little about it. He, however, recalled that there have been instances of artists themselves deciding against appearing for such products upon realising their social responsibility.
For instance, a leading Malayalam actor recently terminated his contract promoting lotteries outside the state responding to the call by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan for introspection by artists whether it was morally correct to promote products which fleeced the common man, Divakaran said.