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Schbang apologises again for Poonam Pandey fake-death marketing stunt; thanks ASCI for auditing future ideas
The ad agency Schbang went on to assure readers that such an act would never happen again.
US drug giant Merck’s Indian affiliate MSD terminated its association with Schbang after speculations surfaced that the pharmaceutical major and its India affiliate were allegedly involved. (From left to right: Image source - Schbang (YouTube) and Poonam Pandey (News18))
The Poonam Pandey fake death stunt to raise awareness for cervical cancer will go down in marketing books as one of the biggest mistakes. Let's recap the events. Controversial Indian actor and model Poonam Pandey’s team took to Instagram to announce that Pandey had succumbed to cervical cancer. The next day Pandey turns up alive and reveals that the stunt was part of a campaign to raise awareness aboout cervical cancer. Naturally, people and pundits were appalled, Pandey made headlines and searches for cervical cancer shot through the roof.
The digital marketing agency Schbang released a statement that it was behind the campaign and apologised. 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 loved one face the hardships of any kind of Cancer.”
The digital agency also went on to state that the ‘act’ pulled off by Pandey resulted in making ‘Cervical Cancer’ and its related terms the most searched ‘topics on Google’. “This is the first time in the history of this country that the word ‘Cervical Cancer’ has been on 1000+ Headlines”,” read the statement.
Schbang apologised for inadvertently causing grief.
The agency has taken to Instagram to apologise once again. 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.”
Read More: Poonam Pandey is not going to be brand ambassador of Govt's cervical cancer awareness campaign
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’.
They went on to assure readers that such an act would never happen again.
Read More: Fever FM, Poonam Pandey: Why are brands and personalities faking their demise? US drug giant Merck’s Indian affiliate MSD terminated its association with Schbang after speculations surfaced that the pharmaceutical major and its India affiliate were allegedly involved.
On February 15, Rs 100 crore defamation case was slapped against the model actress and her former husband Sam Bombay. Faizan Ansari, a resident of Mumbai, had filed a lawsuit stating that Pandey and Bombay orchestrated a ‘false conspiracy of death’, thus trivialising the seriousness of cancer for their personal gains, and manipulated the emotions of people.
There were also reports stating that the Government of India was considering Pandey as the face of their cervical cancer awareness campaign. However, clarifications were issued by the health ministry that stated the news was fake.
Recently, Pandey found herself on IMDb Popular Indian Celebrities list, one week after making headlines for her controversial campaign.
SPOTLIGHT
At the Storyboard18 DNPA Conclave 2025, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw spotlighted the critical role of traditional media in an evolving digital landscape. He emphasized that such gatherings can aid the govt in formulating more effective policies for a balanced and sustainable media ecosystem.
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From the chiefs of Nestle, Diageo, Colgate, PepsiCo, Zetwerk and CRED to AI visionaries, marketing mavens, top creators, ad legends and leading global agencies' CEOs, the brightest minds converged at the Storyboard18 Global Pioneers Summit for an action-packed day of meaningful dialogues on creativity, commerce and culture.