'He told me I am a role model.' No cigarette or casino ads - Sachin Tendulkar honours a promise he made to his dad

Bollywood star Akshay Kumar recently faced fan fury after he was seen endorsing a famous gutka brand. The 'Khiladi' star, who had recently signed a contract with the brand for endorsement, was seen sharing screen space in the 3-minute-long TV commercial along with Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn.

And while it was a coup of sorts for the brand to have managed to get all three heroes together, what happened after the TVC was beamed during the ongoing IPL matches did not quite follow the script. Massively trolled on social media, the 54-year-old Kumar issued a public apology to his fans and exited the contract.



As a role model, what a star promotes does leave an impact on the audience and that was one of the main reasons why cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has never endorsed alcohol or tobacco products, till date.

The master blaster's firm stand against promoting such products has often found a special mention amongst netizens and critics on social media whenever a debate on moral dilemma surrounding celebrities endorsing alcohol and tobacco has taken off on the Internet.

According to a Times Of India report, in 2010, the UB Group had reportedly offered Tendulkar a Rs 20 crore endorsement fee to promote its products but the star turned it down. He was then publicly praised by the Maharashtra government for setting the right example.

Even during the IPL, Tendulkar refused to participate in the 'Oo La La La Le O' commercial - which had a plethora of cricketers across states and countries and clubs - because the company that was running the advertisement also produced alcohol.

During his cricketing tenure, many of his colleagues and contemporaries were seen promoting alcohol or tobacco brands in different ways. But Tendulkar steered clear of any such association. And the reason behind this was a promise he had made to his father.

In a 2020 interview, Tendulkar got candid and talked about his decision that led to him staying away from featuring in tobacco or alcohol ads till date.

"This was a promise I made to my father. He told me I am a role model and a lot of people will follow what you do, Tendulkar said at AajTak's '2020 Salaam Cricket'.

The legendary batsman understood the impact he had on people as a leading sports person who was playing for Team India and refused to even put a single sticker of any such brands on his bat. This may seem minor but it was one of the most notable things at that time. During the 1996 World Cup, when the cricketing economy was yet to see the boom, Tendulkar, the face of Indian cricket then, played with a bat which did not boast of any sponsor.

"In the 1990s my bat didn't have a sticker on it, I didn't have a contract. But everybody else in the team was endorsing 2 brands in particular ... " he said, adding that he got many offers from brands to endorse their products by having their sticker on his bat, but he never gave in and kept the promise made to his father.

"I have stayed away from these two things and have never broken the promise to my father," the former Team India cricketer said.

Earlier this year, the cricketer issued a clarification to his fans on Twitter after his face found its way on a poster promoting a casino.


Once a role model, always a role model, we say!