There is a story so apocryphal that, depending on the narrator's preference, the protagonist keeps changing from one Mahatma (Buddha) to another (Gandhi).
Apparently, a woman once complained to Buddha (or Gandhi, if you please) that her son ate too much sugar.
The Mahatma told her to come back with her son after a few days. When they came back, the Mahatma simply told the child to eat less sugar because too much of it was not good for him.
The woman asked why he couldn't have said the same thing on the first occasion. The Mahatma said he first had to give up sugar himself. Else, his word would carry no weight.
The story, much hackneyed, bears retelling in the light of a recent survey on celebrity endorsements. A survey done by market research firm IMRB International in association with IPAN has thrown up the wake-up finding that more than half the respondents -- 51 per cent, to be precise -- do not think celebrities use the products they endorse.
What is more, many believe that celebrities would endorse many things just for money, and themselves use only the high-end or imported products.
Text: Ruchita Saxena
Image: A man walks past an advertisement featuring cricket sensation Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai. | Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: SRK or Mallya: Who's the better biz man?
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