UNICEF produces 4-minute-long song about poop【Video】

The newest song to hit India is about an unprecedented topic: poop. The song was written by Shri, celebrated composer of the promo song for Life of Pi, and the animated video features hordes of poo piles assailing horrified people holding their noses and running for their lives. Now why is UNICEF involved with something that sounds like the plot from a niche B-movie horror flick?

While most people in developed countries take it for granted that they can find a functioning bathroom anytime they need one, that is not true everywhere. In developing countries like India, sanitation has not always kept up with exploding populations. It’s estimated that half the country’s residents defecate in public, leading to a daily addition of 65 million kilograms (71,650 tons) of feces in public places. Almost none of the poorest 20% ever have access to toilets and have no choice but to defecate outdoors.

Even in areas where restrooms are available, often the waste is simply flushed into waterways. In a country where many people still bathe and wash clothes in rivers, this has disastrous implications for health—especially for children. In many places, the drinking water is contaminated with microbes from feces, causing diarrhea—and that causes about 200,000 child deaths in India each year.

That’s where UNICEF comes in: they’ve produced the video as part of a campaign to improve hygiene. They are offering downloads of the song as a ringtone and a Facebook game to spread the message. You can even have your picture taken with a poo border, because why wouldn’t you want one of those?

The campaign website is also asking for pledges; the aim is to change attitudes so that public defecation is no longer acceptable, but also to appeal to the president for help (though it stops short of spelling out how exactly he should do this).

The video starts with a man dreaming of dancing dookies mocking him.