The veteran actress Zeenat Aman on Tuesday, July 23, opened up about feeling undervalued as she slammed the luxury brands for offering her extremely low fees for endorsements. The actress took to her Instagram and shared photos from her recent photoshoot. In the pictures, the actress is seen wearing a red outfit and accessorising with black sunglasses.
In the caption, the Satyam Shivam Sundaram actress wrote, "Thank you, but no thank you. I can’t tell you my precise worth, but I do know when I’m being undervalued. Amidst the barrage of collaboration and appearance requests that materialise in my inbox each day, there are some that stand out for unpleasant reasons. Last minute invitations that the organiser forgot to edit (and which are addressed to another celebrity who must have declined) are mildly insulting. Impolite emails with minimal details and brusque "share commercials" are infuriating. And shady proposals to post stories or comments without the paid partnership tag are distasteful."
She added how a luxury brand offered her minimal fees and paid "an eye watering penny" to one of their ambassadors, who "beuatifully" reprised her role. The netizens were quick enough to guess that the ambassador being talked about is Priyanka Chopra, who reprised Zeenat's role from the 1978 film Don in its 2006 remake Don: The Chase Begins Again.
"Yet none of these compare to the impudence of multimillion dollar brands that expect my endorsement in exchange for "brand association" and a ludicrously low fee. Such luxury brands pay an eye watering penny to their ambassadors (one of whom beautifully reprised a role I originally played), and sell even their most basic item for multiple lakhs of rupees. In their outreach to me they do not fail to express their admiration, with generous terms such as "icon" and "fashion inspiration". But when it comes to actually compensating me for my time, energy, reputation and reach...the well runs dry", the veteran actress stated.
Concluding her post, Zeenat said that she is certainly worth more than the price of a designer handbag or high-heel shoe as she wrote, "I am over 70 years old, and I have held my own in this industry for over half a century. I work with what I know to be an unusual professionalism. I have a social media audience that is not only entirely organic, but so beautifully engaged. I have immense respect for myself, and for you who follow my page. I am certainly worth more than the price of a designer handbag or high-heel shoe. Your turn. Tell me your story of being undervalued or standing your ground against it."
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