Schbang staged Poonam Pandey's fake death and lost its pharma client MSD

In early February 2024, an Instagram post on Poonam Pandey's account announced the Indian model's death from cervical cancer. The next day she appeared in a video revealing the announcement was a stunt — a campaign Schbang, her PR agency, had created to raise awareness of the disease. The public reaction was immediate fury: the campaign was condemned as exploiting a deadly disease for attention.

The commercial fallout landed on Schbang. Pharmaceutical company MSD terminated its partnership with the agency, calling the campaign 'irresponsible'. On February 17, 2024, Schbang founder Harshil Karia apologised publicly, saying the incident taught him that 'true change requires us not to break down walls, but to build gates — gates of understanding, empathy, and respect'. He said Schbang would seek guidance from India's advertising regulator ASCI on future campaigns.

For Schbang the price was a marquee client, public trust and the industry's attention — the stunt became the reference point for what a PR campaign must not do. For MSD, the episode showed how fast a brand attached to a controversy must move: its termination statement, not the apology, set the public record.