Schbang issues second apology over Poonam Pandey's fake death stunt

Digital marketing agency Schbang, responsible for orchestrating the staged death stunt of Poonam Pandey in order to raise awareness about cervical cancer, has issued a second apology on its social media platforms. 

In an Instagram post, Harshil Karia, MD and Founder, Schbang, said that their initial apology became a justification as they reacted "hastily". 

"We made a mistake. Not once, but twice. By reacting hastily over the events that unfolded after we went live with the Cervical Cancer campaign, our apology became a justification. But not again. To everyone, those hurt or not hurt by the campaign, our Schbangers, partners, friends, families...and the young talent reconsidering their career choice to be in advertising, we are deeply sorry. We know the end doesn't justify the means," the post read. 

"We thank ASCI for helping us correct the mistakes and set a strong foundation for auditing future campaign ideas. If there's one thing we know, it's this: Something like this will never happen again," the post stated. 

In the caption of the post, Karia said that this incident has taught him a valuable lesson that true change requires us not to break down walls, but to build gates—gates of understanding, empathy and respect for all.

"To those we’ve upset or hurt, I stand before you with a humility born from this mistake. Saying “I’m sorry” hardly captures the depth of my regret, but I offer it to you sincerely, hoping it marks the beginning of our amends," Karia said. 

"To re-emphasise - we have already clarified that this was a non-commercial activity with no client involved. We are once again clarifying the same," he added. 

Earlier this month, Schbang released a statement on Instagram, announcing that they, in collaboration with Hauterrfly, were responsible for model Poonam Pandey’s ‘death’ stunt.

In their announcement, they apologised for causing grief and triggering a large section of the public.

However, the agency also mentioned that the "act by Pandey" led to making cervical cancer and related terms the most searched topics on Google. According to the company, "This is the first time in the history of this country that the term 'cervical cancer' has appeared in over 1000 headlines."

They added, “Our actions were driven by a single mission - to elevate awareness about cervical cancer.”

However, this statement garnered significant backlash. The agency partnership also got terminated with US drug company Merck's Indian affiliate MSD.

Following this, the agency took to Instagram for a second apology. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Harshil Karia (@harshiljkaria)

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