They just don’t sell

Perfume, exercise videos and now toothpaste — celebs endorse products that retailers find hard to shift.

Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has joined Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Lata Mangeshkar in having a product named after him. But there don’t seem to be many takers for these ‘celeb’ products launched with much fanfare.

The other three have perfumes named after them while the little master has lent his name to a toothpaste, Sach, with the tagline Ab Din Ki Shuruvaat Sach Se’(Now start your day with Sach). “Like Sachin, the -toothpaste also performs relentlessly,” says Devendra Chawla of the company behind the brand.

Smell like a celeb
The number of Indian celebrities who have merchandise named after them is low compared to Hollywood because most products, perfumes in particular, have failed to entice consumers. Zeenat Aman was the first Indian actor to have a perfume named after her, by a Saudi Arabian company. SRK, Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty also lent their names to perfumes.

“The market for celebrity perfume is niche and the response is not great. Few people here buy fragrances for celebs who endorse them,” says Harmeet Singh, of Fragrance Lounge.“Indian celeb perfumes are not doing great. It’s only Amitabh Bachchan’s fragrance that has some sales,” says Hemant Gupta, director, Kunchals.

“In a month we sell about 200 celeb perfumes, but mostly of celebs like Paris Hilton, Britney, Celine Dion and Jennifer Lopez,” says Ayush Saxena of perfume2order.com.Sales of fitness videos - by actresses Shilpa Shetty and Bipasha Basu and soon Lara Dutta have also fared badly say store owners.