| The girl who cried wolf: Please do away with tasteless humour for attention already It was over a decade ago that model-actor Poonam Pandey shot into the mainstream imagination with her statement where she promised to strip naked if India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup. That she didn’t follow through on that is another matter (not that I was interested anyway), calling it a “publicity stunt”. Pandey’s recent social media “death” and prompt resurrection is another publicity stunt, aimed purportedly at raising awareness for cervical cancer. Sinking to the depths of shockvertising tactics, it was a boldly callous stratagem that has irrecoverably buried her credibility in the depths of the deep sea. The creative agency that executed the ill-conceived gimmick issued an apology, which, frankly, doesn’t cut it. Pandey has since, both in the reveal video and her statements after the debacle, proffered that no matter how desperate, the stunt helped as news channels and media outlets picked up the story and spotlighted cervical cancer. “This is the first time in the history of this country that the word ‘Cervical Cancer’ has been on 1000+ headlines,” part of her statement on Instagram read. Frankly, again, this is just feckless damage control. Because the unsavoury reveal and the corroboration of people’s first thoughts (everyone I speak to says, ‘I thought what if this is again a joke?’) has led to a petering out of the initial concern that arose in everyone’s minds as regards the illness. It might even breed a dismissive indifference in society not just for the well-being of those of her ilk, and worse still, for those suffering from cervical cancer. Because minutes after the post was put up, news and social media feeds began getting populated with listicles on cervical cancer and tributes. Many in the media rushed to grant ‘status: confirmed’ to this hoax without so much as a confabulation, (or, and this is worse: with the confirmation of Pandey’s manager, who obviously was in on the whole thing). Social media can be superfluous and an effective instrument to metastatize fake news these days, and this stunt has only thrust its own triviality on to an illness that causes close to 3.4 lakh deaths every year. This is shockvertising hitting a new low. It isn’t just about making a joke out of death. It’s about deceit, and deceit of an enormous magnitude, something that almost reminded me of the 2008 Pond’s campaign that faked a divorce between actors Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora (eight years before they actually split up). The sheer disregard for people’s emotions and concern about celebs’ well-being is what has left everyone so disappointed. Having said that, I know brands have indulged in advertising shockers to announce revamps and other initiatives in the past, but mocking loss of life and a debilitating, deadly illness consuming people all over the world is just unacceptable. Contrary to what some may say, using mortality as a marketing tool is not edgy or avant-garde — it's a crass manipulation of human emotions for personal gain. It goes without saying that toying with one’s loved ones’ emotions (and even otherwise, for people and fans across sub-domains and mediums in entertainment offered genuine concern and condolences for her) isn’t going to hold her in good stead. I hate to say this, but it is sure to turn Ms Pandey into the girl who cried wolf, and one can’t be sure how people are going to respond to a real cry for help in the future. | 
