Mr. Poo's music video will make you think twice about public defecation 

What does it take to stop a widespread habit of public defecation? For the UNICEF, the solution is clear: fight poop with poop.

Enter Mr. Poo, the happy, bouncy pile of human excrement that stars in UNICEF's latest public health campaign in India.

The end result is a catchy trance-like music video encouraging everyone to take the “poo to the loo.”
 

"First thing in the morning, what do I see? A pile of sh*t staring at me," the song’s catchy Bollywood-inspired theme starts.

Hilariously funny, the video does make a hard topic more digestible, so to speak. It enumerates the many health hazards that usually follow when humans poop in the open, including diarrhea in children, which could lead to more serious complications like malnutrition and even death.

According to the official website of the campaign, 620 million Indians defecate in open daily. Accumulated, that’s half the population dumping over 65 million kilos of poo out there every day, the website warns.

The numbers behind the campaign clue in why such drastic, if more relatable, measures are necessary to stop the poop epidemic: according to the UNICEF, open defecation is still almost universal among the poorest 20 percent of the Indian population, while an even bigger 70 percent do not have access to toilets in rural India.

“If this poo continues to be let loose on us, there will be no escaping the stench of life threatening infections, diseases and epidemics,” said the campaign.  

The website also includes a pledge, addressed to the president of India, calling for help in providing more toilets for those who have no choice but to defecate in public. — Patricia Denise Chiu/TJD, GMA News