Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and actress Priyanka Chopra are set to become the new mascots of the flagship “Incredible India” campaign of the Union Tourism Ministry.
The ministry is likely to do away with the current practice of hiring brand ambassadors for its “Incredible India” campaign through ad agencies. Bachchan and Priyanka may be roped in directly.
“Earlier, the ministry used to hire an agency which in turn would sign the contract with the ambassador but this time Tourism Ministry is considering to directly ink an agreement with the brand ambassador for the campaign,” sources said.
When asked about the appointment of Bachchan and Chopra for the role, Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said the ministry was still in the process of considering the names and has “not issued any notification” in this regard.
The ministry’s contract with advertising agency McCann Worldgroup for the campaign featuring Aamir Khan has already come to an end following which the Government was looking for new faces for the flagship programme to promote tourism.
Khan, who was associated with the campaign for over five years, had come under attack from the Government for his comments on perceived intolerance in the country.
Sources said Bachchan and Chopra were front-runners for the new face of ‘Incredible India’, a campaign based on the concept of Atithi Devo Bhava, a Sanskrit verse which means the guest is equivalent to god. Bachchan had been promoting Gujarat tourism for the past few years.
The agreement would be for three years against the earlier practice of appointing them on campaign basis, they added.
“The ambassadors would be required to act for couple of campaigns during that period,” the sources said, adding they would require offering their service “free of cost” as was done earlier.