Creator of Kia pedophilia ad is the same as creator of WWF 9/11 ad

This is ridiculous. Stupid people (or worse, perverted ones) will always try to get away with this bs, but aren't the judges issued guidelines to filter out this kind of glory-seeking claptrap? Come to think of it, are there no minimum requirements for judges? A) Do you have your own head? B) Does it work? C) Do you occasionally interface with reality?

I could go on. You get the picture. Cannes Lions 2011. Year of the Perv.

The thing that angers me when I see stuff like this is that there are plenty of us who play by the rules, who only submit REAL work, and if none of the real work we've done is good enough, then we don't enter. Why? Because we have respect and love for our profession, and for the festival itself.
But that doesn't seem to be the case, even among the judges of these festivals. Do you really expect me to believe that the judges saw this and said "Oh, I'm sure this was real, I don't question it at all"? Give me a fucking break. Thanks to the asshole who entered this piece, someone else who entered probably a very decent piece and who played by the rules, got cheated out of an award that he/she deserved because they gave it to this clown.
Cannes itself doesn't seem to care that the reputation of the festival is going down the toilet. They refuse to punish offenders and cheaters with consequences. When the Mexican Scrabble piece that *almost* won a GP in print got revoked because the piece had been entered the year before as well, that agency (and any agency that breaks the rules) should have been banned from the festival for a couple years. Second time offenders 5 years. Third time offenders should be barred from entering again. But no, that same agency that cheated the year before, cheated **again** as you reported here:

http://bit.ly/lnzoEz

And it even took home some metals. I can't help but question the authenticity of all of their pieces now. Sorry, but they've earned that reputation.

One Show and D&AD Awards have implemented more strict rules precisely because of fiascos like these. Cannes doesn't seem to care much.

I've never understood some of these people either. The biggest reason why I wanted to go into advertising, was because I wanted to see my work on the streets, on TV, in the magazines, etc. I wanted people to see it and to affect their thinking. I never dreamed of doing my "best" work so that it would never be seen by the target audience but only by the eyes of a few festival judges and ad peers. What the hell is the point of that? What satisfaction and gratification do you get, winning something that you cheated at getting and that gets you no respect, but scorn from your peers? It's absurd.

The real glory, comes from the public reacting and noticing your work, not from a roomful of judges

I have never won a Lion in Cannes as of yet. But if I ever do, I have these idiots to thank for really making it seem like an accomplishment that won't be so great anymore.

Now, I have no hard evidence to accuse anyone of anything, but given the track record, one can't be blamed for questioning someone's credibility. This same Brazilian CD who did the spots above (Rodolfo Sampaio), also won a Gold Lion in outdoor in 2007 for this piece:

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/arno_blender_bush

Ads of the world mistakenly lists as it winning print, but it won outdoor (how you can expect to read an outdoor ad with that size headline is beyond me, but that's beside the point) as you can see in the official winners list:

http://www.canneslions.com/downloads/winners_pdfs/Cannes_Lions_2007_Outd...

Which, oddly enough, looks A LOT like this ad which was done the year before:

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/milenio_diario_bush

Coincidence? Maybe. I suppose anything is possible. But if you start building for yourself a reputation for cheating, perhaps you should always be presumed guilty until proved otherwise.

Cannes will really only pay attention when the major agencies decided to boycott and not enter. Both the creative (semi) independents like Goodby, Wieden and Crispin plus at least one major holding company need to finally say "We're not wasting out money losing out to scam."

Only then will Cannes really do something about it.

This is why you are dangerous.

I expect that the job is removed already. Due to the obvious reasons:

From an agency point of view: The amount of time and money we spend on entering real jobs made for clients, based on real briefs, jobs that have been approved, jobs we have sold – is huge. It should be obvious that the competition should completely free from essays, ideas from the drawer, and fictive campaigns. Just out of respect for the real work that made it to the competition it should be removed. I guess that disappointment from the agencies that entered in that category makes them act. Loosing to a fictive idea must be completely unacceptable.

From a creative point of view:
If the competition opens up for drawer ideas, what’s the point of competing, anyone can come up with a good idea..

From an award show point of view:
We have in CCA seen cheats and fictive work entered, and always removed the work immediately, and never been in a situation where cheats were repeated, if the job is removed, and the award given the the worthy, the case should be over.

@dasmussen – head of Creative Circle Award Jury and CD, (HK) JWT CPH