Mumbai: Actor Salman Khan endorses many things — from detergents and colas to bikes. Now, with his conviction in the 2002 drunk-driving case, there are already reports claiming that almost all brands associated with the actor are looking at Plan B.

An estimated Rs 45 crore is riding on his brand endorsements and if Salman goes to jail on Friday... viewers and readers can expect changes. “Brands will survive,” says ad guru Prahlad Kakkar. “(For those associated) there might a miniscule drop in sales, but the ad world has a rather short memory. If one ambassador doesn’t work out, there will always be a replacement. In rare cases few brands may approach him after his jail-stint, thanks to the publicity it will garner.”

What makes Salman one of the most popular ambassadors for brands is his fan following and the “Robin Hood” image that he has somehow created for himself. However, if reports are to be believed, a leading cola manufacturer which heavily relied on the actor is now considering pulling off or reworking major ads.

“No brand will want to be associated with a convicted person. When someone messes up in the public eye, brands drop them. This has happened in the case of Tiger Woods and Oscar Pistorius. The brands themselves won’t really get affected,” explains national creative director of Ogilvy & Mather, Piyush Pandey.

Salman has always courted controversy but even after the infamous black buck shooting case, the star continued to receive endorsements and went to make Rs 100 crore films. And that has been made possible by his extensive PR machinery, which is constantly churning out stories based on the Being Human initiative.

Venkat Jagdish, Managing Director of OTS Advertising, says, “Salman and his PR team have managed to create quite an image in the public eye. His ‘Being Human’ might have started off as a clothing company, but it soon developed into a CSR activity of sorts. This created a good image of the star and that could be a reason why things might not get that bad for Salman. For brands to survive, they only need to disconnect themselves from an ambassador and hire a new one.”

Also, there are the fans. “As far as buying goes, people may buy if they are fans of the ambassador or if they genuinely like the brand. Now, if a brand drops Salman, they might lose a few of his loyal fans as clients, but the majority of the sales will not be affected,” believes Ajeet Mestry, creative director at Star Sports. But consider this. A year ago, in an ad firm’s boardroom you could suggest Salman’s name. Now though, that doesn’t seem like a good idea.