“It’s extreme, I know”: an influencer creates controversy after making her subscribers believe she was dead

Son canular a choqué ses abonnés. INSTAGRAM POONAM PANDEY

32-year-old Indian model and influencer Poonam Pandey tricked her 1.3 million Instagram followers into believing she was dead, before revealing it was death. #39;a lie in an attempt to raise awareness about cervical cancer. A "hoax" which is not to everyone's taste and sparks controversy. 

She wanted to raise awareness among her 1.3 million followers on Intagram about cervical cancer, but her approach hit the headlines: Indian model and influencer Poonam Pandey made people believe he was dead on his Instagram account.

"We are deeply saddened to announce the death of our beloved Poonam after a battle with cervical cancer", announced a press release shared this Friday, February 2.

Obituaries of the 32-year-old young woman were published, tributes from Bollywood stars were paid to her. If the information aroused emotion, it was received with astonishment of her subscribers, who began to doubt its veracity, after seeing photos of the influencer aboard a boat in Boa, in which she appears in good health only a few days earlier.

"Shame on you"

Poonam Pandey was therefore forced to confess: she confessed to her hoax in a video published this Saturday, February 3, which she justified by explaining that she wanted to raise awareness about cervical cancer. ;#39;uterus. 

"I'm alive. I did not die from cervical cancer. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing about other women who have lost their lives after contracting this type of cancer (…) I am proud of what the announcement of my death was able to accomplish. ;, wrote the influencer.

The revelation of this fake death shocked Internet users and many of them castigated the young Indian for wanting to draw attention to herself. "Engaging in a deceptive operation, such as faking one's death, under the guise of raising awareness is not only unethical but also manipulative,’ an Internet user was outraged. "Shame on you (…) next time, no one will take your real death seriously !", commented another.