Its Shahrukh vs Aamir now

While the two emotionally-charged Khans—Salman and Shah Rukh—are embroiled in a personal tiff, there is one more obvious war of sorts happening between SRK and Aamir Khan...only this time it’s in the ad world!

An interesting trend is emerging in the advertising world. Whichever product Shah Rukh Khan endorses, a rival company immediately signs up Aamir Khan to endorse their product and vice versa. Don’t believe us? Here’s a lowdown.

Car race
Shah Rukh Khan endorses Hyundai Santro and I 10, Aamir endorses Toyota Innova.

As the cookie crumbles
SRK vouches for Sunfeast biscuits, Aamir gives Parle products his thumbs-up.

Dishing it out
While SRK has been endorsing Dish TV for a while now, Aamir has been recently signed up for Tata Sky

Watch it
SRK is the brand ambassador for Tag Heuer, Aamir is rooting for desi brand Titan.

Getting mobile
SRK features in ads promoting Nokia’s mobile handsets, while Aamir features in ads for Samsung.

And, of course, the two top traditional rivals Coca Cola and Pepsi have Aamir and Shah Rukh Khan as their brand ambassadors respectively.

Ad man Bharat Dabholkar says it’s natural that the advertisers will pit two of the biggest stars against each other. He says, “There are just three or four top film stars that the advertisers want. It all depends on what kind of crowd the star can pull in. Aamir and Shah Rukh are two of the biggest stars. So, it is obvious why, if brand X takes on Shah Rukh, brand Y would want to take on Aamir.”

However, Prahlad Kakkar thinks Aamir is more exclusive than SRK. He says, “It is quite obvious that if a particular brand takes on Shah Rukh, the rival would want to take on Aamir. But one must remember that Aamir is extremely choosy about picking the brands he wants to endorse. For him, it is almost like selecting a wife. Aamir takes on just about four or five endorsements per year, endorsing exclusivity for the brands and hence he charges double the amount that any other star charges, including Amitabh Bachchan.

Sumanto Chattopadhyay of O&M thinks it’s simply because of lack of choice that the two Khans are pitted against each other. He says, “Our nation being Bollywood crazy and celebrity crazy, there are only a handful of stars who are bankable to endorse any brand. Shah Rukh and Aamir happen to be the most bankable stars. Also, possibly sometimes, these stars are taken because they fit the brand. Like in the case of Aamir for Titan. He is a very apt brand ambassador for the kind of brand image that they have. So probably even if they could afford SRK, they might have not gone for him. But in most cases, celebrities are signed on if you can afford them, not really bothering whether if he or she fits the brand. That’s why this Khan vs Khan situation has happened.”

Manan Mistry feels the real competition is between the brands. “If one brand takes on Shah Rukh Khan, the other brand will most likely want to take a star for their ad campaign as well. And who else than Aamir Khan. After all, both actors are on par as far as their star status is concerned.”

DNA India