Vivo Ousts Brand Ambassadors Aamir Khan & Sara Ali Khan

Over the next few months, brand ambassadors Aamir Khan and Sara Ali Khan will not be seen in advertising campaigns of Chinese smartphone maker Vivo, not even in the upcoming IPL, in what’s said to be a fallout from the recent Sino-Indian border hostilities. This follows demands that Indian stars stop endorsing Chinese brands. After the border skirmish in June, this is the first example of a large Chinese brand deciding not to use celebrities in its advertising. 

An industry executive aware of the development said, “Vivo will advertise new phone launches in the coming months including the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 for which it is title sponsor, but none of the new phones will be promoted by actors Aamir or Sara despite their star power.”

Aamir Khan, who featured prominently on Vivo’s Twitter handle, is no longer visible there or on the mobile phone maker’s home page. He was signed up by Vivo in early 2018. The star has 26.3 million followers on Twitter and 3.4 million followers on Instagram. He’s known to charge about ₹4 crores per day for brand shoots, which translates into an annual endorsement fee of ₹12-15 crore. 

Manish Porwal, managing director at talent management firm Alchemist Marketing & Talent Solutions said, “While contracts can’t be terminated and they will continue to full term unless a force majeure clause is invoked, a scaling down of advertising showing celebrities upfront is expected for the time being.” “This is to avoid any possible backlash in terms of consumer sentiment for the celebrities who are household names.”

Vivo which has an ongoing five years, ₹2,000-crore-plus title sponsorship deal with the IPL starting 2018, pays the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ₹440 crores per season.