Influencer deletes post on Bournvita after receiving 'legal notice' from Cadbury

After a video of influencer Revant Himatsingka criticising the endorsement of Bournvita, a product of Cadbury, as a ‘health drink’ went viral, the influencer reportedly received a legal warning from Cadbury. Soon after, the influencer removed the post from all of his social media accounts. Himatsingka criticised the company for "miscommunicating" the product's "nutritional value" in the video. He also made fun of the assertions made by the company on its packaging.

Himatsingka wrote in the caption for the reel, which had been widely shared on social platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn, "Should the government allow companies to blatantly lie on their package? Parents are getting their children addicted to sugar at a young age, and the children end up craving sugar throughout their lives.”

This post by the influencer which is now deleted has generated 12 million views on Instagram and was widely shared across social media platforms. The post was even shared by actor-politician Paresh Rawal, former cricketer and MP Kirti Azad.

Cadbury Bournvita, on 9th April 2023, issued a clarification about the product on their social media handle and stated, "Bournvita contains nutrients namely Vitamin A, C, D, Iron, Zinc, Copper and Selenium which help build immunity. These have been part of our formulation for several years. We have always called out ‘Helps with the healthy functioning of the immune system’ on the back of our pack for several years (even before the Covid-19 pandemic)."

On Friday, Himatsingka apologised to Bournvita and issued a statement on Instagram, "I have decided to take down the (Bournvita) video after receiving a legal notice from one of India's biggest law firms on 13 April. I apologise to Cadbury for making the video. I did not plan or intend to infringe any trademark or defame any company, nor do I have the interest or resources to participate in any court cases, and I request MNCs to not take this forward legally."

The influencer in the now-deleted video introduced Bournvita's benefits first. Later, he noted that Bournvita contains sugar, cocoa solids, an emulsifier, liquid glucose and a colour 150 degrees C (which he claimed was cancer-causing). "They have 50 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Basically, the entire half of this bag is only sugar!" he said.

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