Lead Found In Nestle Maggi - Amitabh Bachchan And Other Brand Ambassadors Being Named In This Issue

In the last one or two weeks, Nestle has been in the news (and here). Food and Drug Administration in Uttar Pradesh had found unacceptable levels of lead in Maggi noodles. Linked to this issue was the brand ambassadors also kinda facing the heat.

I am surprised. Is our FDA capable of conducting tests and ensuring recall of faulty products? I have never heard of such a thing before. I would think someone blew the whistle on Nestle, rightly or wrongly. And about 20 states plan to test Maggi by the end of the week. Do the states know how to test? Will they independently? Or will a Mr Menon from the Kerala FDA call up a Mr Saxena, his counterpart in Bihar FDA and get the result and jot the same thing down in his sheet?

Next, even assuming that Nestle has some serious manufacturing issues, how is the Big B and, for that matter, any brand ambassador responsible for this issue? It is not as though Amitabh has personally certified Maggi? Has Ranbeer Singh certified Pepsi or Virat Kohli certified Sunsilk / Clinic shampoo (whichever he is the ambassador for)? I am not naming the Anushka Sharmas and the Aishwarya Rai's or the Katrina Kaifs and the rest of the ambassadors. The issue is generic and not specific to any one specific brand ambassador.

Each of these ambassadors represents any product for a specific remuneration - with little idea about the merits of any product that they represent. 

These guys aren't product testers. Testers would subject a product to various tests and then would OK or fail the products. These guys endorse a product based on some payment. The brand owners expect people to buy these products because of the charisma that these ambassadors have. 

None of these guys knows anything about the product he endorses. Why blame them when the product turns out bad? 

If we think that Pepsi is good because so and so ambassador says it is good, is it Pepsi company's fault? Or the brand ambassador's fault? Or ours?

Crazy.

Updated on Aug 25, 2015
I saw the Tata Docomo Ad today where a guy confuses the Hindi word "mor" (peacock) for the English word more. The surprising thing is the same ad has been dubbed in Tamil as well. And in Tamil there is no word "mor" which means peacock. The ad makes no sense in the Tamil version.


Additional reading:

1. http://www.livemint.com/Money/HETjaCIfuLFDq4nohIz0JL/Maggi-noodles-crackdown-Whats-the-worst-that-can-happen-to.html
2. http://www.financialexpress.com/article/lifestyle/showbiz/amitabh-bachchan-salman-khan-in-forbes-highest-paid-global-celebs-list/91869/ - it wasn't their deep knowledge of the brands that they "ambassed" for that is the raison d'etre of their wealth!!