Gautam Gambhir, the former India opener and mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) IPL franchise, has criticized certain former cricketers who were recently seen doing ads of ‘pan masala’ brands in the garb of mouth fresheners.
He said that young fans should pick their role models wisely as the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, and Kapil Dev are a few of the cricketers seen in advertisements of companies and brands famous for their toxic products.
“Disgusting because in my life I had never thought a sportsperson would do a pan masala ad and disappointing as I keep saying the same thing and will keep doing so, your role model should be chosen very carefully, after a lot of thought and deliberation. Name is not important, their actions are. Be it anybody. One is not known because of their name but because of their work actions," Gautam Gambhir told News18 India.
“Crores of youth are seeing them and money is not that important that you will do any pan masala ad. There are many other ways to earn money. Even if one has to let go of some money-making opportunity, as one is a role model of the youth, one has to have that courage," he added.
Furthermore, the hero of India’s 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup final wins, reminded that he gave up his salary when he retired from cricket mid-way in IPL 2018 when he was part of Delhi Capitals.
“In 2018, when I stepped down as the captain of the Delhi Capitals, I had given up on three crores. I could have pocketed that money but I feel I should get only what I deserve and not what I want," Gambhir said.
Gambhir went on to point out that popular Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, had apologized to his fans and withdrawn advertisements of a similar product, adding that cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, in the past, refused categorically to partake in such endorsements.
“When a film actor does these ads, we criticize them. No one has apologized yet. If in the future some young players start doing ads for pan masala, will have the power to say no to that person. That player can also turn around and say that others too have done the same. What trend is this setting? Have the courage to say no.
Sachin Tendulkar too was offered 20-30 crores but he had said no to pan masala ads as he had promised his father he would never. That is why is a role model," he added.
(News18 inputs)
