This is a prime example of how an unrelated comment can prove to be very costly! Aamir Khan who was a Brand Ambassador for eCommerce company Snapdeal has had to face the brunt of a controversial comment he made in November last year.
Snapdeal has now decided that they will end contract with Aamir Khan, even though the contract was extendable by year, two persons with knowledge of the development told ET.
Neither Snapdeal nor Aamir Khan has made any official comment on this.
It might be possible that Snapdeal may have decided to enter the contract because they are now looking at getting profitable and want to rein in various expenditures. While that may be true, one cannot ignore the fact that the controversy erupted by Aamir Khan’s comment had a role to play in it!
This is second such loss that Aamir Khan had to take after the controversy. Last month, Tourism Ministry dropped Aamir Khan as brand ambassador for their Incredible India campaign, for which he was associated for over 6 years. Amitabh Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra have replaced him!
The Controversy
In November, while speaking at the eighth edition of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, Aamir Khan had expressed alarm and despondency over the rise in cases displaying intolerance in India.
Aamir Khan said, “Kiran and I have lived all our lives in India. For the first time, she said, should we move out of India? That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make to me. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers everyday. That does indicate that there is a sense of growing disquiet”
This comment did not go down too well with many Indians, including many Snapdeal customers. Thousands of users pulled down Snapdeal App ratings to 1 star due to their brand ambassador’s strong political statement in regards to perceived intolerance of Government.
Interestingly, earlier this January, Aamir Khan clarified that his comment was taken out of context and media twisted his words. He clarified, “I never said Bharat desh is intolerant. Now, there are people who have negativity and positivity. Negative people spread negativity and decide to separate us. But India is a vast country. Every state has its own culture and diversity. I think ours is the only nation which is so diverse and yet so beautiful. Unity in diversity is our strength. And when someone tries to divide us, I get hurt.”
Whether Aamir Khan meant what he said or not – one thing is sure. He has had to face irreparable losses due to that one single comment!
Good news, very happy, such hypocrites should be treated accordingly. Remember his reaction when many wanted to ban PK for ridiculing the sacred. On the other hand few years back when kamal haasan’s vishwaroopam was about to release aamir wanted it to be banned because there is a scene of reading quran before execution by terrorists. At the end kamal haasan had to cut the scene and allowed to release only after several weeks of fight with govt and many organizations. Pk didn’t had to face any of that, and he comes out and takes about intolerance? Who is the real intolerant here.
I lost all my respect for this man, he personifies the word hypocrite for me now. So does Shahrukh khan for his statement on intolerance. But i think shahrukh is just stupidity unlike Aamir.