Advertising Age reported on proposed—albeit nontransparent and undisclosed—changes for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity allegedly intended to foster industrywide DE&I progress.
For starters, Cannes Lions CEO Simon Cook pledged to “evolve our jury selection process and our criteria to ensure that our juries fully reflect society, rather than the industry.” Okay, except the exclusively White industry remains the award show’s main client and source of revenue, meaning diversifying the juries is a performative gesture that doesn’t address the real problem.
Cook also claimed, “All of our entrants will be asked to provide information that outlines the DEI agenda and composition of the teams behind the camera.” Okay, except anyone with integrity knows damn well that the average White advertising agency’s “DEI agenda” is a deceptive heat shield, a checkbox exercise typically drafted by powerless Chief Diversity Officers or resident committees of color.
Additionally, all submitted documentation that provides “composition of the teams behind the camera” should be scrutinized to confirm the actual roles and authority of each teammate—as White advertising agencies are prone to falsifying such credits with the inclusion of mailroom attendants, security personnel and janitorial maintenance crews.
More importantly, how will Cannes use the collected information? Will entrants who fail to meet the undefined criteria be disqualified? Does “teams behind the camera” cover agency teams and production vendors? Will there be open distinctions between White women and truly underrepresented segments?
Sorry, but it sounds like inspiration for new forms of scam campaigns.
Cannes Lions Adds New Criteria On Growth, Sustainability And Diversity For 2023 Awards
New judging criteria announced at ANA include C02 emissions and diversity behind the camera, plus promise to ‘evolve’ jury makeup
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The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity award entries for 2023 will have new requirements to address the impact work has on growth and the environment as well as disclosures about the diversity of teams creating the work, Cannes Lions CEO Simon Cook said Wednesday at the Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing Conference in Orlando.
Cannes will also address continued criticism about the diversity of its juries, Cook said, promising to “evolve our jury selection process and our criteria to ensure that our juries fully reflect society, rather than the industry.”
He did not provide specific targets for jury composition or for the new judging criteria, but Cook did express confidence that the changes can make an impact. “We’re in a position to be able to provide the platform to set the industry agenda,” Cook said.
The initiatives are an outgrowth of input from closed-door meetings starting last year at Cannes with the ANA’s CMO Growth Council and other groups, Cook said. And they spring from the belief that Cannes can change the industry by changing how awards get dished out—pointing to the results of Madonna Badger’s efforts in 2017 to bar ads that objectify or stereotype women from receiving awards.
The new guidelines go beyond efforts such as creating the Glass Lions and Sustainable Development Lions to apply criteria used in those categories to all award entries.
“From 2023, with the help of the global councils, Lions will take things a step further by encouraging all submissions to demonstrate progress across three critical areas,” Cook said.
Regardless of category, all entries will be asked to demonstrate impact on growth and sustainability, he said. On the latter, that means entrants will be asked to provide information on CO2 emissions from the work’s production process, using tools like those provided by the industry Ad Net Zero group that was formed last year at Cannes, Cook said
“All of our entrants will be asked to provide information that outlines the DEI agenda and composition of the teams behind the camera,” he said.
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