Should celebrity endorsements be stopped across the world?

Everytime an actor invites you to “Taste the Thunder” while endorsing a 300 ml bottle of cola, little do we realise that he is in fact advocating the consumption of ten tea spoons of sugar with every drink.
“The culture of Bollywood and sports icons endorsing cola brands, creates an addiction out of the product, without cautioning against its ill-effects,” Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Sunita Narain was quoted by PTI as saying.
“What they are selling you is nothing but sugar and water. To their benefit, they have been successful in creating an addiction out of it. But, Dhoni will never take such drinks himself, then why promote?” she was further quoted by PTI as saying.
According to a PTI report: Arguing that celebrity endorsements of such products should be stopped across the world, she cited a study conducted by Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigating contamination in soft drinks and beverages to a cola advertisement replied by showcasing another actor “wearing a white coat.”
“Now what does he (the actor) know about labs or about nutrition, or for that matter pesticides?” she was quoted by PTI as saying.
She admitted that the actor has now become rather a good food proponent now.
The environmentalist was participating at one of the run-up sessions to the 6th ILF Samanvay, which is scheduled to be held from November 5 – 7 this year.
The discussion addressing the languages used by soda companies to make aerated drinks aspirational for consumers, also had veteran journalist Satya Sivaraman and food critic Sourish Bhattacharya on the panel.
“They have used the language making you believe that this is fashion, this is glamour and this is aspirational,” Narain was quoted by PTI as saying.
She compared such advertisements with the “Marlboro Man phenomenon” that encouraged smoking, without noting that “the man died of lung cancer.”
Bhattacharya, however, stopped short of banning the culture of celebrities promoting food products but rather suggested using their popularity to advocate healthier alternatives in this fight between “good and bad.”
“Look at what (popular American chef) Alice Waters is doing. She has become the face of organic food movement all over the world. Same is the case with ‘Slow food movement’ founded by Carlos Petrini. We certainly can try the same here,” Bhattacharya was quoted by PTI as saying.