MSD NOT involved in Poonam Pandey fake death stunt: Makers of Gardasil clarify, cut ties with agency involved in controversy
New Delhi: MSD, the Indian affiliate of the US pharmaceutical giant Merck has clarified that it is not associated with actor and model Poonam Pandey’s fake death publicity stunt in any form. The drug giant has also severed ties with digital marketing agency Schbang, onboarded by the pharma company for creative marketing solutions, due to its involvement in the controversy.
The controversy unfolded on February 2, 2024, when Pandey's team announced her demise due to cervical cancer. The following day, she revealed on Instagram that she was alive and had staged her death to spotlight cervical cancer awareness.
Pandey faced significant criticism for faking her death as part of a cervical cancer initiative, aiming to raise awareness among women to take the HPV vaccine. The stunt, conceptualized by Schbang in association with Hauterfly (a Fork Media Group Co.), dragged MSD into the controversy, accusing the company of being the brand behind the initiative.
Venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy linked Schbang to Poonam Pandey and MSD's HPV vaccine in a LinkedIn post on February 6. In the post, he shared a link indicating that the awareness campaign had amassed over 43 million YouTube views and was widely shared by numerous influencers.
Read Also: SII Unveils First Made-In-India HPV Vaccine For Cervical Cancer
On February 3, the agency released an apology statement, acknowledging that the "act by Pandey" resulted in making cervical cancer and related terms the most searched topics on Google. According to Schbang, "this is the first time in the history of this country that the word ‘cervical cancer’ has been on over 1000 headlines.”
Meanwhile, the Gardasil vaccine (available in India since 2008, designed to protect against HPV strains causing cervical cancer) manufacturer, MSD took swift action upon learning of the publicity campaign. The pharmaceutical giant chose to part ways with Schbang, confirming the decision in the aftermath of the widely criticized Poonam Pandey death stunt. Schbang had been onboarded by the pharma company for creative marketing solutions.
The PR activity by Pandey and Schbang to raise awareness about cervical cancer “is not associated with MSD in any way or form,” an MSD spokesperson told ET. “Following this incident, on the grounds of conflict of interest, we have terminated the service contract with Schbang.”
In an official statement to e4m, MSD categorically stated, "MSD would like to categorically state that the recent public relations activity on cervical cancer carried out by Poonam Pandey and digital marketing agency Schbang was neither initiated with MSD’s endorsement nor made with the knowledge of MSD. We are of the view that 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 had taken immediate actions to terminate our service contract with the agency with all rights reserved."
“Regarding the aforementioned public relations activities, MSD is of the view that as disease awareness is important for prevention and protection of people against certain HPV-related cancers and diseases, it is critical that such messages are always scientifically and medically accurate whilst delivered in an appropriate manner”, they added.
In 2022, India's Serum Institute launched Cervavac, a domestically developed HPV vaccine, while GSK, a British pharmaceutical company, stopped selling its HPV vaccine Cervarix in India.
