MSD, the Indian affiliate of US drug giant Merck, has terminated its association with Schbang, the creative marketing solutions agency involved in the controversial publicity stunt by model Poonam Pandey faking her own death. Schbang, along with Pandey and media outlet Hauterfly, carried out the stunt to raise awareness about cervical cancer, but it backfired. MSD sells Gardasil vaccine against HPV that causes cervical cancer and clarified that the stunt was not associated with them. Social media posts alleging MSD’s involvement prompted the termination of the contract.
