As suspected, model and actress Poonam Pandey is not dead. Her controversial past and lack of hospital statement or no reactions from her family members did make me question if all this was a marketing gimmick or an attempt to generate awareness about cervical cancer. A lot of people questioned her, and they were right!
A day after her team shared a post on her official Instagram account to announce her supposed death due to cervical cancer, Poonam shared a video to confirm that she faked it to create awareness about the painful disease.
Poonam said her intention behind the gimmick was to seek people's attention and begin a conversation around 'not enough-talked about cervical cancer'. While I appreciate Poonam's cause and absolutely support the need to encourage girls to take the HPV vaccine, I believe it was the most despicable way to raise awareness.
Poonam has not only disappointed and shocked her followers with this ridiculous and distasteful publicity stunt but also disrespected those who have lost their loved ones to cervical cancer.
Poonam was not alone in coming up with something like this. Her managers and PR team members were well aware of the publicity stunt and were very much involved in fooling media persons as well as the entire nation. There was a team behind this and I strongly feel that whoever came up with this idea should be fired. Death is not a joke. It is not a publicity stunt.
There are a lot of other ways to create awareness about cancer. There are hundreds of people who are putting a lot of effort in stepping up cancer literacy, spreading knowledge about the disease amongst the population and dispelling the myths. Poonam should have chosen some other way or she should have just left it on them to do the needful instead of making a joke of herself.
Also, I really hope this doesn't set the wrong example in the marketing world. Not to forget, it is also a wake up call for the media to cross check facts and not publish news without being 100 per cent sure.
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