Meet India's Mr. Poo

We here at CairoScene can honestly say this will be the weirdest thing you will see all week. Introducing Mr. Poo, UNICEF's newest mascot for the latest public health campaign in India.

According to a report by the Times of India, India has more than 620 million people still defecating in the open, with only half the population using toilets. If these numbers are true, then India is suffering from the worst kind of shit storm, which is why UNICEF decided to launch a video campaign to raise awareness of the health dangers associate with public pooing, such as increasing the risk of microbial contamination of water.

The Poo2Loo campaign released a ridiculously catchy, insanely colourful, Bollywood style animation staring Mr. Poo. The video is baffling for a number of reasons, but despite wanting to hate it we here at CairoScene find ourselves stuck with the infectious line of 'take the poo to the loo' repeating over and over in our heads.

The video liberally uses the word shit which instantly had us thinking it was a hoax, but it isn't. If we were surrounded by poo everywhere we went, then we too would call it what it is... shit. What baffles us is why the majority of the video is in English. Perhaps it is elitist thinking, or general misunderstanding of India, but wouldn't those who speak English and have TVs or the internet be part of the demographic that probably uses the loo? If the goal is to have those living in streets to stop taking dumps everywhere, then perhaps installing public toilets would go a long way. Then again, if it was released in Hindi, then chances are we would have not watched it, and our day would be that much shittier.