Remember the Luxor Highlighters campaign from Leo Burnett Mumbai? Yes, it even won a nice shiny Gold Lion at the Cannes awards in press. Well, there's another campaign out there depicting dictators on newsprint, albeit doing the opposite, blacking out instead of highlighting. I just found the visual similarity amusing.
The Reporters Without Borders comes from all the way across the world, created by McCann Erickson, Geneva, Switzerland and was released in May 2008 so I think it's a case of brainsyncs. Instead of high-lighting a story like the Cannes winner did, the Reporters without borders shhows blacked out portraits of Castro, Ahmadinejad, Hu Jintao and Putin - as these are leaders who have imprisoned reporters for writing. The blacked out lines are a visual reminder of classic censorship that has been practiced by many states in the past. During world war two, even British soldiers had their letters letters censored with a black marker crossing out anything which might compromise operational secrecy before the letter was sent.
Creative Director: Timo Kirez
Art Director / Illustrator: Angelo Sciullo
Copywriters: David von Ritter, Chantal Panozzo
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It was not even approved by the client!
Leo Burnett’s Grand Prix winning work at the Abbys 2008 — Luxor Highlighters — seems headed for controversy. Though Leo Burnett’s work may have resulted in it winning a Grand Prix, Luxor is, in fact, Lowe India’s client. What’s even more interesting is the fact that company officials appeared to be clueless about the body of work that Leo Burnett has showcased.
When ET spoke to Luxor Highlighters managing director Pooja Jain, this is what she first had to say: “Our official agency is Lowe, and I have no idea about the campaigns that won awards at the Goa Fest. The authorisation may have been given by our VP marketing, Arvind Krishnan, who is not employed with the company any more. However, the only person who can authorise such work is me and I have not commissioned any ad for Luxor Highlighters, to the best of my knowledge.”
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Advertising/Luxor_ad_in_the_eye_of_a_storm/rssarticleshow/2931483.cms
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PermalinkOooooh, ANOTHER Scam at Cannes? Is it me or does it seem that there's a bit too many of those this year? Thanks for the extra juicy gossip bittertruth. What a shame as I really like the Luxor campaign idea (It would still win easily gold in any spec award category).
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