There’s a world-renowned short list you aspire to be a part of at Cannes—and another, thankfully shorter list, that you want no part of. The latter is brand new and will be annual. It was instituted by Bob Isherwood, worldwide creative director for Saatchi & Saatchi, and president of two juries for this year’s International Advertising Festival: the Film and the Press & Poster judgings.
Isherwood has compiled a list of entrants behind "scam ads" that the Film and Press & Poster juries disqualified from the 2001 Cannes Festival. "It’s a president’s log that names the offenders and will be handed by me to the next jury president," he related.
The rationale for the log, continued Isherwood, is that it could provide a useful "red flag," identifying the entrants who tried to put ineligible work in the running—and who might be inclined to do so again. The work they submit to future Cannes Festivals will thus draw careful scrutiny. "And if the same entrants persist in trying to sneak work in, I suppose other actions will be taken against them," Isherwood conjectured.
Fifteen to 20 scam ads were thrown out by the Film and Press & Poster juries. Many of the offenders in the film competition placed completely new, high-profile soundtracks on their spots. "There’s no way the agencies and clients could have afforded those tracks—the commercials never aired that way," said Isherwood.
Furthermore, if those spots had somehow slipped through and gone on to gain Cannes Festival recognition, they would have represented a potentially significant legal liability for the entrants. "This work would have suddenly been on a global stage—and with unauthorized tracks, you run the huge risk of being sued," Isherwood contended.
But the big-picture concern transcends any prospective litigation. Simply put, scam ads do a great disservice to real-world work that deserves consideration for Cannes honors. For scam ads to take up room in the show is an injustice.
"The competition is all about people doing great creative work for real clients," said Isherwood. "Every jury member has dedicated his or her career to the belief that great creative advertising makes a difference—for our clients and the industry as a whole."
Cannes juries have been "vigilant" regarding scam ads, according to Isherwood. And this vigilance makes the task of screening some 6,000-plus spots all the more daunting. "It’s a bit annoying to have to tack three more hours of screening onto the process—three hours just to identify any possible scam ads," noted Isherwood.
"Clearly, Cannes is taking a rigid stand against scam work," he affirmed. Festival organizers have asked that all entries be signed off on by a senior member of the ad agency submitting the work. Isherwood hopes this policy and the president’s log will help catch—or, better yet, prevent—scam entries.
The quantity of those entries also needs to be put into perspective, pointed out Festival CEO Romain Hatchuel. "We’re not talking big numbers—fifteen to twenty scam ads," he said. "These are the rare exceptions to the rule when you’re dealing with more than six thousand commercials."
But even 15 to 20 are too many. "The Festival lives on the credibility and integrity of its judges—and of the work," related Hatchuel. "We must honor the best genuine work."
