Fairness cream row: Think twice before endorsing products, warns Raveena

Being a celebrity is not just glam and glitz, as they carry a moral responsibility on their shoulders, with the eyes of the world especially their adoring fans on them.

The recent issues of endorsing fairness creams had created a crack within the Bollywood industry, as celebrities are taking on each other on over the matter.

Actor Abhay Deol took the internet by storm with his strong stand against endorsing fairness creams and in a post on social media, he openly slammed Bollywood celebrities who have endorsed fairness creams in the past.

While many big stars have endorsed fairness brands, there are quite a few who have flatly refused to promote such products, one such star is actress Raveena Tandon.

Recently, the 'Bombay Velvet' actress, who was in the national capital to promote her upcoming flick 'Maatr', was asked about her opinion on the controversy over fairness cream ads, and without taking any sides, she voiced her opinion loud and clear.

The actress feels, "Being a Bollywood celebrity, one has a social responsibility to think before endorsing because they are what they endorse or what they believe in."

While talking exclusively to ANI, Tandon said, "I strongly feel that when actors use their status to promote things, be it alcohol or cigarettes, one needs to draw the line because as actors this is their moral responsibility."

For the unversed, in a series of Facebook posts, the 'Raanjhanaa' star ridiculed the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor to Vidya Balan and John Abraham for featuring in ad campaigns, which promote fairness creams, especially the ones that chose campaigns that, subtly or blatantly, tried to sell the idea that being dark was not beautiful.

This came as a part of the much heated discussion over the recent incident, where a mob ganged upon young Nigerian men in a Greater Noida mall and physically assaulted them as the perpetrators believed the Nigerians to have played a role in the death of a local.