Amitabh Bachchan to promote Horlicks, public health experts say please don't!
The public health experts asked Amitabh Bachchan to renounce Horlicks like he had Pepsi in 2014 due to the soft drink's health implications on children.
- Jun 7, 2018,
- Updated Jun 7, 2018 5:00 PM IST
Last week GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) roped in Amitabh Bachchan as their brand ambassador for milk food drink, Horlicks, following which the superstar has been tweeting titbits about India's nutrition problem as well as about his association with the brand. However, this association with Horlicks and its campaign, Mission Poshan, has landed the superstar in a spot. After he put out a series of tweets, a national-level think tank on nutrition, Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest, wrote an open letter to Bachchan urging him to cut his ties with the brand. The think tank includes public health experts such as former health secretary Keshav Desiraju, paediatrician Komal Kushwaha, child health activist Arun Gupta and paediatrician Vandana Prasad. The experts said that Horlicks is not only highly-priced, it also has high sugar content and that they use false advertisement. They also said that this could affect and burden low-income families who would buy the product based on Bachchan's endorsement.
"Horlicks is a high sugar product, as 100 gram of a popularly advertised pack of Horlicks Delight, contains 78 gram of carbohydrates of which 32 grams is sucrose sugar. This is harmful for children as it may contribute to childhood obesity and non communicable disease in later life," the letter read. "It is neither good food nor nutrition, it is just a high sugar product, what now a days is called empty calories," they added.
They said that big companies take up causes as marketing strategies, which is what Horlicks is doing with its campaign, Mission Poshan. Horlicks Mission Poshan is supporting the Government's Rashtriya Poshan Abhiyaan, with the motto 'We are here to fight the malnutrition in our country'.
"We fear that this campaign will influence families and children from these families to buy Horlicks assuming it is a good nutritious product as you are behind it. Horlicks is expensive, may displace real family foods. Thus, your association with Horlicks is unlikely to achieve the objective of curbing undernutrition in India. In the year 2014 you had renounced your association with Pepsi based on health implications on children. Association with 'Horlicks' is equally harmful to children," the think tank said.
A GSK Consumer spokesperson said that they aim to address the issue of micronutrient deficiency in children. "Horlicks has been a trusted household name for over 100 years and has been synonymous with nutrition. As a brand, we aim to address the often overlooked issue of micronutrient deficiency in children which is widely prevalent in India," they said in a statement.
GSK continues to campaign for the brand on social media using popular social media influencers and running a hashtag, MissionPoshan.Last week GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) roped in Amitabh Bachchan as their brand ambassador for milk food drink, Horlicks, following which the superstar has been tweeting titbits about India's nutrition problem as well as about his association with the brand. However, this association with Horlicks and its campaign, Mission Poshan, has landed the superstar in a spot. After he put out a series of tweets, a national-level think tank on nutrition, Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest, wrote an open letter to Bachchan urging him to cut his ties with the brand. The think tank includes public health experts such as former health secretary Keshav Desiraju, paediatrician Komal Kushwaha, child health activist Arun Gupta and paediatrician Vandana Prasad. The experts said that Horlicks is not only highly-priced, it also has high sugar content and that they use false advertisement. They also said that this could affect and burden low-income families who would buy the product based on Bachchan's endorsement.
"Horlicks is a high sugar product, as 100 gram of a popularly advertised pack of Horlicks Delight, contains 78 gram of carbohydrates of which 32 grams is sucrose sugar. This is harmful for children as it may contribute to childhood obesity and non communicable disease in later life," the letter read. "It is neither good food nor nutrition, it is just a high sugar product, what now a days is called empty calories," they added.
They said that big companies take up causes as marketing strategies, which is what Horlicks is doing with its campaign, Mission Poshan. Horlicks Mission Poshan is supporting the Government's Rashtriya Poshan Abhiyaan, with the motto 'We are here to fight the malnutrition in our country'.
"We fear that this campaign will influence families and children from these families to buy Horlicks assuming it is a good nutritious product as you are behind it. Horlicks is expensive, may displace real family foods. Thus, your association with Horlicks is unlikely to achieve the objective of curbing undernutrition in India. In the year 2014 you had renounced your association with Pepsi based on health implications on children. Association with 'Horlicks' is equally harmful to children," the think tank said.
A GSK Consumer spokesperson said that they aim to address the issue of micronutrient deficiency in children. "Horlicks has been a trusted household name for over 100 years and has been synonymous with nutrition. As a brand, we aim to address the often overlooked issue of micronutrient deficiency in children which is widely prevalent in India," they said in a statement.
GSK continues to campaign for the brand on social media using popular social media influencers and running a hashtag, MissionPoshan.