Questions swirl on ethics of stunt by Poonam Pandey; B’wood divided

Model and controversial star Poonam Pandey left everyone in shock and anger after she faked her death as part of a promotional strategy to draw people’s attention to cervical cancer. On Friday, her manager, in a statement, revealed that Poonam had sadly passed away due to cervical cancer. After learning that it was a PR stunt planned by the actress and her influencers, content creators, startup founders and others took to social media platforms, calling her act as “shameful”, “unethical” and more.

“Whoever crafted the Poonam Pandey campaign, must know that the message that comes out is that people don’t die of cervical cancer,” Gabbar, Co-founder of JoinHoodApp, wrote on X While the brand consultant and social media evangelist Manish Pandey, said “Death stunts for marketing campaigns no matter how important the messaging is at the end is a horrible thing to do. It is the stupidest thing to do ever, super low – absolute horrible PR, attention stunt,”. Singer and music composer Rahul Vaidya has slammed the fake death announcement by the controversial actress Poonam Pandey, urging people to refrain from reacting, categorising it as a strategic move in her campaign, and dismissing it with a poignant ‘RIP PR/marketing’.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the ‘Baaton Ko Teri’ singer had written: “Am I the only one who thinks Poonam Pandey is not dead. “And I was right!! Now that poonam is alive I can surely say RIP PR/ marketing. New low of creating a sensational/viral campaign .. welcome to KALYUG.” Voicing on the controversy, Eminent breast surgeon P. Raghu Ram has slammed model-actor Poonam Pandey and called her dead from cervical cancer stunt ‘cheap publicity’. “Shame on Poonam Pandey for creating a new low -cheap publicity, trivialising the second most common cancer affecting women in India on the eve of World Cancer Day,” he said.

The All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA) has issued a statement demanding an FIR against model-actor Poonam Pandey. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, AICWA said that ‘using the guise of cervical cancer for self-promotion is not acceptable’. AICWA’s statement read, “The fake PR stunt by model and actress Poonam Pandey is highly wrong. Using the guise of cervical cancer for self-promotion is not acceptable.

After this news, people may hesitate to believe any death news in the Indian film industry. No one in the film industry stoops to such levels for PR.” It also read, “Poonam Pandey’s manager had confirmed the False News, so there should be an FIR against Poonam Pandey and her manager to prevent anyone exploiting their own death news for personal gains (PR). The entire Indian film industry, along with the entire nation, paid tribute.”