Influencer Deletes Post On Health Drink Bournvita After Legal Notice From Cadbury

Influencer Revant Himatsingka reportedly received a legal notice from Cadbury after his video criticising the endorsement of Cadbury's product Bournvita as a 'health drink' went viral. The influencer soon deleted the post from all his social media platforms. In the video, Mr Himatsingka called out the brand for "miscommunicating" the product's "nutritional value". He also ridiculed the claims that the brand makes on its packaging.

"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," Himatsingka wrote in the caption for the reel, which had been widely shared on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn.

The deleted post had amassed over 12 million views on Instagram and was widely shared across social media platforms. It was later 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. The company said "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, Mr Himatsingka apologised to Bournvita. He 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."

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