New Delhi: Team India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has served a legal notice on Vijay Mallya`s UB Spirits over a commercial for McDowell`s No. 1 Platinum liquor that features teammate and captain MS Dhoni.
The advertisement spoofs Harbhajan Singh’s role in Pernod Ricard`s Royal Stag ad campaign that had the selling drive as ‘Make It Large’.
Due to the health ministry’s guidelines in India, liquor ads cann’t be aired and thus, the respective companies have made subaltern commercials as McDowell`s No. 1 Platinum soda and Royal Stag cricket gear, respectively.
Citing it as a case of bad taste, the off spinner’s lawyers have sent the legal notice to top UB Group officials including its owner Vijay Mallya, stating that the McDowell`s No. 1 Platinum commercial makes a mockery of Harbhajan, his family and the Sikh community.
“My client is serving you with the instant notice to give you an opportunity to accept your mistake and make amends. Failing this, we will have no other alternative than to take appropriate legal action including that of filing proceedings for defamation, damages and all such civil as well as criminal actions,” the notice says, signed by lawyer Shyam Dewani.
In fact, the controversy will keep Harbhajan in the news and perhaps even notch up his endorsement value by a couple of lakhs, Halve says. Taking a dig at Royal Stag`s tagline `Make it large`, the McDowell`s No. 1 Platinum commercial shows a Bhajji look-alike at his father`s factory, asking if he had “made it large”, only to get slapped by his father. Zeecric