Actor Shah Rukh Khan is going through a tough personal phase with his son, Aryan Khan, 23, embroiled in a drugs case. However, SRK is also feeling the heat from other quarters of life. Reportedly, Byju’s, an educational technology company, has temporarily paused all ads featuring the actor. With this move, is SRK’s brand value going to take a hit?

Ad guru Prahlad Kakar says that even though everyone knows the current situation is just a “tamasha” and brands will pause ads targetted towards children because the “advertising world hates controversy, they never take sides.” He explains, “Rivals might use it saying your brand ambassador’s son is doing drugs, what are you teaching children?”

Producer Pritish Nandy feels, “SRK’s brand value is no longer as strong as it once was when his films were doing much better. But that cannot be attributed to the episode involving his son.”

Trade expert Atul Mohan agrees and feels that this is all temporary. He says, “I think he will emerge stronger after this. This (case involving Aryan) is generating sympathy towards the Khan family.”

Explaining what decides an actor’s brand value, Nandy says that it is their saleability at the box office in addition to “credibility and the sense of responsibility that a person carries on their shoulder”. He says, “I will be very surprised if someone who is extremely successful but not trustworthy would fetch a large sum of money as an endorser for a brand.”