Poonam Pandey opens up about death stunt: 'Some people benefited monetarily'

Without taking names, actor Poonam Pandey urged the audience to investigate 'who made it (the death stunt) commercial' and also said that she has received legal notices from stakeholders

by e4m Staff
Published: Feb 22, 2024 4:51 PM | 2 min read

Actor Poonam Pandey, who received a ton of criticism earlier this month for her "death stunt" for cervical cancer awareness, took to Instagram to give her side of the story. In her post, she revealed that the intention was to create awareness about cervical cancer and she stands by the cause. However, she also hinted at being exploited by certain factions.

Poonam Pandey wrote, "What hurt me is that some people benefited monetarily and drove me into the cause pretext. But, I will always stand by it and continue to lend my support now and forever."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Poonam Pandey (@poonampandeyreal)

She emphasized and suggested that it is up to the audience to investigate and determine who commercialized the situation.

In another post, Pandey wrote that they (her team and herself) have received legal notices from stakeholders.

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A post shared by Poonam Pandey (@poonampandeyreal)

Earlier this month, Schbang, in collaboration with Hautterfly (a Fork Media Co.), faced heavy criticism for fabricating news of Poonam Pandey's death as part of a cervical cancer awareness initiative aimed at encouraging women to take the HPV vaccine.

In response to the negative feedback and backlash, Schbang issued an apology while also presenting statistics demonstrating how the stunt contributed to raising awareness about cervical cancer. However, amidst the criticism, the agency suffered a significant setback as the major pharmaceutical client MSD terminated their partnership, citing the campaign as irresponsible.

Last week, After massive criticism and the loss of MSD’s account, Harshil Karia, Founder of Schbang, the creative agency behind the death stunt of Pandey, issued an apology on social media.