The Cannes Film Festival 2026 has begun, and fans are eagerly waiting to watch Aishwarya Rai Bachchan walk the red carpet. For over 20 years now, Aishwarya has been a regular on the carpet, representing the beauty brand L’Oreal Paris, a sponsor of the prestigious film festival. Last week, when the brand unveiled its ambassadors at Cannes’ Le Martinez Hotel with giant banner posters, fans noticed that Aishwarya`s poster was absent, leading to backlash and outrage on the internet.
Fans question Aishwarya Rai`s absence from Cannes
The six posters at Cannes’ Le Martinez Hotel included Indian actress Alia Bhatt, but Aishwarya was conspicuously absent. L’Oreal Paris shared the video on their Instagram account and wrote, “Consider this L’Oréal Paris’s official check-in, Le Martinez is officially home for the Festival.”
The comment section was, however, filled with Aishwarya Rai fans questioning her absence from the promotional material. “Where`s the mother of Cannes AishwaryaRaiBachchan,” one user asked, while another added, “It`s too much! This time, L`Oreal is going overboard. The poster doesn`t feature a legend like Aishwarya, who made the L`Oreal brand popular across the entire Asian continent, but instead highlights some actresses who are just two days old!”
A third user went on to say, “I`m sorry, but Aishwarya Rai will forever be much bigger than Alia Bhatt.”
Brand reacts
Amid all these comments slamming the brand, their team decided to respond to a couple of comments and clarify about Aishwarya`s appearance. When one fan directly tagged L’Oreal Paris and wrote, “We don’t know L`Oreal without Aishwarya. Still can’t forget Aish saying, `because, Im worth it` Need her back !!!” The brand replied to the comment, writing, “A living legend, and she knows exactly what to do with that.”
Similarly, when another fan tagged the brand and wrote, “Where is aishwaryaraibachchan_arb ? We only see Aishwarya Rai Bachchan during Cannes. We want to see her more. Her aura is unmatched. Please promote and celebrate her more.” The brand responded, “Year after year, Cannes after Cannes, she never misses.”
For the unversed, Aishwarya made her Cannes debut in 2002 alongside Shah Rukh Khan and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for the premiere of Devdas. In the following year, the actress officially walked the red carpet as a L’Oréal ambassador for the very first time.