13236: The Scambags At BBDO.

Adweek reported BBDO has withdrawn all Brazilian Bayer ads after a scam ad won a Bronze Lion in the Cannes competition. “I learned last night that one of our very own agencies had a pretty scammy ad in the festival, and it won a Lion,” said BBDO Global Creative Chief David Lubars. “I told them to return it. Because I don’t want that kind of Lion. BBDO doesn’t want that kind of Lion.” Um, there was nothing “scammy” about it. It was a scam ad—pure and simple—as the Brazilian BBDO shop created it exclusively for the award show; plus, the agency paid for the media placement. Cannes has specific policies forbidding the entry and awarding of scam ads, including fuzzy penalties that read as follows:

We believe that banning agencies from entering on a wholesale basis is unfair on blameless individuals. There are many people who work in agencies who may not be involved with an erroneous entry and therefore should not be penalised. Our policy will be to ban the individuals named on the credit list if a scam is discovered.

The length and nature of the ban will be decided based on the seriousness of the case involved. We take the view that not all issues are the same and each case should be dealt with on its own merits.

Of course, the profit-generating machine called Cannes is not about to ban the entire BBDO universe, as it would lead to serious revenue losses. So far, there have been no reports on the banning of a handful of BBDO Brazilians—who were probably surprised to hear from Lubars too. Was it the first time they had ever connected? Did anyone from BBDO have to call the Bayer brass and explain the PR mess was the work of rogue Brazilians? Regardless, it’s funny how the culturally clueless nature of the scam ad is apparently more heinous than the fraudulent factor. An opportunity to promote diverted diversity trumps integrity—both of which trump diversity. Oh, and BBDO probably counts the Brazilians as evidence of its commitment to diversity.

BBDO Withdraws All Brazilian Bayer Ads From Cannes With Apology to Festival and Client

Lubars says AlmapBBDO work was ‘scammy’

By Kristina Monllos, Tim Nudd

CANNES, France—AlmapBBDO, facing criticism for questionable wins at this week’s Cannes Lions, has withdrawn all its Bayer work from the festival at the request of BBDO global creative chief David Lubars.

“I learned last night that one of our very own agencies had a pretty scammy ad in the festival, and it won a Lion,” said Lubars, from the stage of the Debussy Theatre during BBDO’s Cannes Lions session today. “I told them to return it. Because I don’t want that kind of Lion. BBDO doesn’t want that kind of Lion.”

This follows the agency’s apology for its bronze Lion-winning work, which was accused of being sexist, and—per the client’s own description—appears to have been created solely to win awards for the agency.

“All Bayer work created by AlmapBBDO has been withdrawn from the Festival,” a BBDO network spokesman said in a statement. “The work was approved by the local client to be run in Brazil. However, the media was paid for by AlmapBBDO, which contravenes the Cannes entry regulations.”

The spokesman added: “We regret this and apologize to the festival organizers and our client for any embarrassment caused.”

Work for Bayer from the agency included the “.MOV” ad which was one of three ads in a campaign that won a bronze Lion in Outdoor. The agency also submitted a separate campaign that won a bronze Lion in the Print & Publishing category.