"We Made A Mistake": Agency Apologises Again For Poonam Pandey's Fake-Death Marketing Stunt

Poonam Pandey's death hoax to raise awareness for cervical cancer sparked much debate. While initial reports led many to believe she had died, it was later revealed as a publicity stunt. This generated significant media attention and online searches for cervical cancer but also attracted criticism for its approach.

Schbang, the digital marketing agency responsible for the Poonam Pandey campaign, issued an apology. Their statement read, "Yes, we were involved in the initiative for Poonam Pandey to spread awareness about Cervical Cancer in collaboration with Hauterfly. To start off, we would like to extend a heartfelt apology - especially towards those who have been triggered as a result of having faced/having a loved one face the hardships of any kind of Cancer."

The digital agency also said that the 'act' pulled off by Ms Pandey resulted in making 'Cervical Cancer' and its related terms the most searched 'topics on Google'.

The agency apologised once again in a new post on Instagram. The post read, "To everyone, those hurt or not hurt by the campaign, our Schbangers, partners, friends, families and the young talent considering their career choice in advertising, we are deeply sorry. We know the end doesn't justify the means."

The post also went on to thank The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for helping the agency rectify its mistakes and for laying the seeds of a strong foundation for 'auditing future campaign ideas'.

The agency went on to assure readers that such an act would never happen again.

The model and actor's actions, however, have faced severe backlash on social media. Many users criticised her for resorting to extreme measures, accusing her of "faking her death" for publicity.

On February 15, a Rs 100 crore defamation case was slapped against Ms Pandey and her former husband Sam Bombay. Faizan Ansari, a resident of Mumbai, had filed a lawsuit stating that Ms Pandey and Mr Bombay orchestrated a 'false conspiracy of death', thus trivialising the seriousness of cancer for their gains, and manipulated the emotions of people.