Sunday, October 06, 2013

11494: Delayed WTF 27—Liars Club.

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

Advertising Week 2013 featured a Digiday-sponsored soiree titled, “Are You Calling Me A Liar?” The event descriptor read:

Advertising people sometimes need to stretch the truth. Digiday will gather six leading agency executives, divided into two teams, to see who can tell tall tales the others will believe. Some stories told will be true, some will be false. Can you tell the difference?

Can’t help but think this mess only corroborated Digiday’s naiveté and cluelessness regarding digital and traditional advertising agencies. Yes, today’s ad shops are filled with pathological liars spinning webs of deception to dupe hapless consumers. To warm up for the festivities, attendees were probably invited to spot the genitalia hidden in ice cubes via subliminal advertising tactics.

Not sure what motivated “leading agency executives” to participate in such a display. And it’s definitely unclear how anyone might have gained professional benefits from viewing the spectacle. A story on Digiday’s get-together stated Ogilvy Global CMO Lauren Crampsie opened the storytelling by declaring, “I once made out with Eminem.” Turned out she was telling the truth.

Ironically, the event took place at Manhattan’s Liberty Theatre directly after a presentation titled, “Advancing Diversity, Inclusion & Innovation.” Someone should have challenged the liars to share stories about diversity in their workplaces. Now that would have tested their expert abilities to fib.

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