| If cricket is a religion in India, then the Indian Premier League is one of its greatest annual rituals. Ranked among the top 10 richest sports leagues in the world, the 18th season of the league will kick off later this week, and is poised to reach more than 1 billion viewers — just the kind of eyeballs that advertisers dream of. With millions in advertising dollars a given, India’s Health Ministry is pushing the IPL, valued at $16 billion, and its players to be mindful of whom they accept sponsorship from. Although commercials for booze and tobacco have been legally banned in India since the early 2000s, companies have found a way to get around the regulations through surrogate ads for products such as soda and mouth fresheners. As children make up a significant percentage of the viewers, parents are increasingly concerned about the impact of such advertising on young people in a country with a high prevalence of tobacco use, rising consumption of alcohol and one of the highest global rates of oral cancer. The most common form of tobacco use in India is smokeless tobacco, consumed by one in five Indians, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey. In 2023 and 2024, firms selling pan masala — a breath-freshening product similar to chewing tobacco — were the top advertisers in the IPL, counting for as much as 15% of total ads. In the 2023 Cricket World Cup, the biggest international tournament for the sport, 40% of ads promoted tobacco brands. The IPL should strictly stop all forms of advertising for these products including surrogate ads in the stadium premises as well as on television, the ministry told the tournament Chair Arun Singh Dhumal in a March 5 letter. Sales of these goods at events should be regulated and even indirect promotion by sportspersons and commentators should be discouraged, it added. Since the IPL is “India’s most viewed sports event, direct or indirect promotion of tobacco/alcohol on any platform linked to sports sends a contradictory message to the public about health and fitness,” the ministry said in the letter. Even top Bollywood stars from Shah Rukh Khan to renowned former cricketers like Kapil Dev have promoted these items. And viewers are sick of it. “Since 2017, we have been getting a lot of complaints about surrogate ads by parents who were concerned what their kids were exposed to,” said Sachin Taparia, founder at community advocacy platform and pollster LocalCircles. It’s not yet clear if the IPL will ban these brands, but either way I, along with hundreds of millions of others around the country, will be tuning in this Saturday to watch the games begin. — Satviki Sanjay | 
