Adweek reported—and provided an update—on the exclusivity at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where culturally clueless controversy erupted after the awards show initially assembled a predominately White Brazilian jury pool.
Cannes Lions officials quickly rejiggered the invitations for greater Black representation, spewing the standard clichéd and contrived apologies. The unconsciously biased bullshit from Cannes Lions CEO Simon Cook included, “[W]e are still far from where we want to be…I wholeheartedly recognize there is more work to be done…”
The scenario presented a host of hilarious hypocrisies and hijinks such as:
• Brazil—the country often accused of submitting scam campaigns—now adds suspicious jury selection to its creative character defects.
• The premier advertising awards show perfectly reflects Adland by perpetuating prejudiced pranks—and can’t even craft an original excuse for their discriminatory deeds.
• The Adweek article was illustrated with a flag of Brazil image (depicted above). For diversity at Cannes, it would be more appropriate—and symbolically clever—to raise a White flag.
Nearly All-White Brazil Delegation for Cannes Lions Spurs Uproar
Agency members penned an open letter to Lions CEO Simon Cook
By Chris Ariens
Update: On May 13, a week after this story was published, we received this update:
“Cannes Lions have taken immediate action and invited five black Brazilian creatives to join their 2022 juries,” said Andre Chaves of advocacy group Papel & Caneta. “In addition, they will provide a speaking slot at the festival to give a voice to black creative talent on the global stage.”
The additions come following a meeting members of the advocacy groups had with Cannes Lions CEO Simon Cook earlier this week. Following next month’s festival, Cook also plans to visit Brazil to meet with organizations that can help the festival forge better relationships with the wider Black creative community.
Original story: A collective of Brazilian creatives, supported by a vocal ensemble of diversity champions, has penned an open letter to Cannes Lions CEO Simon Cook questioning the choice of its jurors from Brazil, with only one Black creative out of 24 names.
The group called on the Lions to consider proportional diversity as a criteria for jury selection. The move has been supported by industry leaders like Cindy Gallop and Kat Gordon of the 3% Conference.
“We are committed to having more representative juries—but we are still far from where we want to be,” Cook said today in response to the letter. “This year, we have missed the mark on the selection of jurors in Brazil.”
“I’m glad to hear that the Cannes organization recognizes that their team failed in the selection of jurors in Brazil, but I expect more changes,” Andre Chaves, founder of São Paulo’s Papel & Caneta, an advocacy group working on behalf of creatives, and one of the authors of the open letter, told Adweek. “It makes no sense to have only one Black person out of 24 jurors. And if it did, it just goes to show that there is something very wrong with the selection criteria.”
Gabriela Rodrigues, another voice behind the open letter and head of impact and culture at agency SOKO, told Adweek: “It is urgent for the Cannes Lions festival to rethink its jury selection criteria. We want less political factors and more fairness in the criteria. We want space for the bright Black people who exist in the Brazilian market—and also outside Brazil—to have a real chance.”
“I wholeheartedly recognize there is more work to be done at an individual country level,” Cook added. “The Cannes Lions shortlisting jury will be announced next week, and we will ensure better representation globally—and at a local level, particularly in Brazil.”
Cannes Lions said its juror diversity efforts have led to an increase of Black representation from 8% in 2021 to 13% this year. Cook thanked Chaves, Rodrigues and their group for drawing attention to the problem, adding, “we’re committed to our juries being more representative of society, year on year.”
With a population of 215 million, more than half of the Brazilian population (56%) identify as Black, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
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