US drug giant Merck's Indian affiliate MSD has broken ties with Schbang, the digital marketing agency that was allegedly involved with Hauterrfly in model and influencer Poonam Pandey's fake-death stunt, according to a report by The Economic Times.
Pandey's supposed 'well-intentioned' initiative to spread awareness about cervical cancer backfired on her and the actor received a lot of flak on social media for the move.
What Happened?
On 2 February, Pandey's team issued a statement on social media announcing the model's death from cervical cancer. Pandey teamed up with the portal Huaterrfly for this move. The actor's intention was to spread awareness about cervical, which she felt was not being talked about enough.
Have a look at her post here:
Soon condolences started pouring in from fans and the media until they found out that the actor is hale and hearty.
Schbang Releases Statement
A day after Pandey's fake demise, Schbang released an official statement on Instagram stating that they were behind the fake-death campaign. It 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.”
Talking about the impact of the stunt, the digital agency further added, "This is the first time in the history of this country that the word ‘Cervical Cancer’ has been on 1000+ Headlines."
According to a report by Storyboard18, Hauterrfly's traffic dramatically increased amid the controversy, raising concerns over the reliability of the campaign since the digital marketing agency mainly focuses on entertainment rather than health-related issues.
As per the report, Pandey's management firm, #Xtra Media, which is a sister company of Fork Media Group, owns Hauterrfly. Schbang had previously collaborated with Merck allegedly via MSD to promote the HPV vaccine.
In continuation of the report, industry experts alleged that the "Poonam Pandey Is Alive" campaign was, in fact, planned months in advance since the entities involved in the stunt registered the website in July 2023.
According to Storyboard18, the campaign was launched between January and February, coinciding with the day India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the interim budget speech.
During the speech, Sitharaman stated that the government will promote HPV vaccines for young girls aged 9 to 14. As per the Indian Council of Medical Research's National Cancer Registry Programme, over 3,40,000 cervical cancer cases were reported by 2023 in India.
While Gardasil 9 targets nine HPV variants has been available in India since 2008 and costs Rs 10,850 per dose, the quadrivalent Gardasil costs less than the former at Rs 4,000 per dose. According to Storyboard18, Pandey's fake-death campaign was part of a larger marketing campaign to 'indirectly' promote the Gardasil HPV vaccine in India.
In a statement given to The Quint, MSD clarified that "Schbang is not associated with MSD in any way or form," adding that they have terminated their service contract with Schbang, citing a conflict of interest. The statement read:
"MSD would like to categorically state that the recent public relations activity on HPV prevention carried out by Poonam Pandey and digital marketing agency Schbang was neither initiated with MSD’s endorsement nor made with the knowledge of MSD. This activity was grossly irresponsible and distasteful and goes against our company’s values of ethics and integrity. Upon becoming aware of the involvement of Schbang, we took immediate action to terminate our service contract with the agency with all rights reserved."
"MSD is of the view that disease awareness is important for prevention and protection of people against certain HPV-related cancers and diseases, therefore it is critical that such messages are always scientifically and medically accurate whilst being delivered in an appropriate manner," it added.
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