Indian influencer, mannequin and actress Poonam Pandey has copped flak for faking her death as a part of a cervical cancer consciousness marketing campaign.
The information of her faux death was first introduced on 2 February 2024 with an announcement being launched on her Instagram story stating that Pandey had handed resulting from cervical cancer. A day later, on 3 February, it was revealed that her death was a stunt to lift consciousness on cervical cancer and the screenings out there to stop it.
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In a now-deleted submit, which was earlier seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Pandey posted an announcement that learn, “I perceive that the current information of my supposed demise resulting from cervical cancer has taken a minute to digest.”
“I respect the heat and concern that the world has prolonged in the final 24 hours,” she continued.
Pandey additionally posted a video as a part of the reveal, which has now been deleted. In the video seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Pandey was sitting on a black chair in a blue long-sleeved shirt and blue denims. In the video, she admitted that she is alive and did not die of cervical cancer, and later added that that is sadly not the case for “lots of and 1000’s of girls who’ve misplaced their lives due to cervical cancer.”
Pandey then shared to viewers that cervical cancer, not like different cancers, is preventable and inspired viewers to get examined and to get a HPV vaccine. She ended the video with a name to motion to log onto an internet site known as ‘Poonampandeyisalive.com’. A test by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE additionally discovered that the web site is now not dwell.
The stunt has gathered mass consideration from many web customers, most of which have negatively impacted Pandey’s model sentiments. Majority of the unfavourable sentiments come up from phrases similar to ‘saddened’, ‘grief’ and ‘stunning’, based on media intelligence agency CARMA.
These phrases had been expressed by social media customers after listening to concerning the supposed passing of Pandey. Her sentiments had been roughly 64.5% unfavourable after her faux death was revealed. Many customers questioned the credibility of the marketing campaign and expressed scepticism in the direction of such consciousness initiatives in the longer term, mentioned CARMA.
These sentiments had been expressed via the utilization of “faux”, “stunt” and “controversial”. There was additionally a scarcity of emotional phrases utilized by netizens in comparison with the interval earlier than the submit.
Despite the unfavourable sentiments, there have been some help for Pandey. On her X account, Pandey had retweeted posts in help of the marketing campaign.
One consumer didn’t conform to Pandey’s approach to get consideration however claimed the stunt had served a goal. Another consumer, who identifies as a health care provider, mentioned that three sufferers had requested about cervical cancer since Pandey’s publicity stunt.
MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Pandey for an announcement.
Meanwhile the company behind the marketing campaign Schbang has additionally apologised and defined that the marketing campaign was to unfold consciousness about Cervical Cancer and performed in collaboration with Hauterfly on a pro-bono foundation. “Our actions had been pushed by a singular mission – to raise consciousness about Cervical cancer”. It added that Pandey’s mother additionally bravely battled Cancer and having been via such an expertise, Pandey understands the significance of prevention and consciousness when a vaccine is offered.
It added, “There was no change in folks’s curiousity relating to Cervical Cancer when the finance minister talked about it only a few days prior throughout the Union Budget. However the act by Pandey led to cervical cancer and its associated phrases being one of the vital searched matters on Google. t then went on to share display pictures of the spike in curiousity.
“We perceive that our strategies could have sparked debate concerning the strategy. While we remorse any destress triggered, if the transfer outcomes in spreading a lot wanted consciousness and stopping deaths, that may be its actual influence.”
While the transfer has undoubtedly gotten consideration, such a stunt could elevate considerations amongst utilizing influencers for future campaigns given shoppers are already dropping belief in them, based on a January 2024 report by Impact.com.
That mentioned, the worldwide influencer advert spending remains to be anticipated to leap by 13% in 2024. This is very since near 65% of manufacturers will enhance their influencer budgets for 2024, indicating that the promoting type stays a best choice for entrepreneurs, mentioned the report.
Data from Statista additional confirmed that the overall advert spending in the influencer promoting business is anticipated to leap to US$39.3 billion in 2025, growing by 12% yearly. By 2028, it projected that all the market would hit over US$ 52 billion in complete advert spending, whereas the annual development price drops to lower than 9%.
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https://www.marketing-interactive.com/indian-influencer-fakes-death-publicity-stunt
