Scam: Will tough new rules alter Asia’s attitude

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ScamStoryVisual.jpgOne story in the last issue of Campaign Brief Asia has been causing lots of comment over the past 8 weeks. Repeated requests for magazines and pdf copies has lead up to post the whole story as a PDF file (see below).

The story covers the current position Awards shows and festivals are taking towards the issue of Scam advertising. With award shows cracking down on scam ads – all because of a half page ad for WWF created by DDB Brazil – which when eventually exposed, caused an uproar around the advertising world.

One Show, who were the show embarrassed by the WWF ad and were the first to act have introduced tough penalties for scammers that some ECDs believe will lead to a 50% drop in entries this year. Other shows have introduced their own penalties targeting scam.

Here’s a few quotes from One Show and the Asian-based ECDs quoted in our story (download the full story below):

Kevin Swanepoel, president, The One Club: “There is no risk of banning if the work was legit and was for a real client. Certainly entering real work is not ‘too-hard’. You either had a brief from a client, created the work and it was approved to run or you did not. If you didn’t, don’t enter it. It is really easy to produce wonderfully creative ads without the restrictions of solving a specific problem from a client or be approved by a client. The One Show has always been seen as the fairest award show, during judging there is no discussion and the jury vote by anonymous ballot. The area where we can improve is to eliminating scam ads and by establishing these new rules we hope to do this.”

John Merrifield, creative at large, TBWA\Asia Pacific: “I don’t expect the penalties to have much impact considering that scamming one’s way to notoriety is fairly well entrenched in Asia. Scam adverts are fool’s gold – only Muppets need apply. One or two agencies seem to have made a cottage industry out of it. The silliest bit is the excuses they come up with to justify the indulgence. Delusions of adequacy?”

Tay Guan Hin, JWT regional ECD South-East Asia: “Besides penalizing the agencies, shouldn’t the judges themselves be penalized for awarding that ad in the first place? Maybe, everyone from organizers to judges to agencies should all take full responsibility should this episode arise again. I wouldn’t be surprised if some agencies might not want to take the chance if they don’t comply to their requirements – five years ban feels like a prison sentence.”

Eugene Cheong, creative president of Ogilvy & Mather, Asia-Pacific: “Pro-bonos, in my view, are not only good for your soul, they are fabulous for your career too. Just ask John Merrifield: If that old motor-mouth hadn’t harassed UNICEF, and harangued Sng Tong Beng into shooting the ‘babies on the conveyor’ spot for nothing, he’d still be holed up in Jakarta drinking Bintang. Pro bonos level the playing field. They allow John Nobody to show John Hegarty that he’s an old fart, Knight of the British Empire Notwithstanding.”

Danny Searle, BBDO Asia regional creative director: “I reckon it is the crackdown we had to have. The trouble with scam ads is that they reinforce some clients perceptions that ‘creative’ ads are self serving and indulgent. In some ways, they have been responsible for the falling standard of real work across the industry. I think there will be even more charity ads out there as this will be the way agencies get around the ruling.”

Andy Greenaway, regional creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi South-East Asia: “The only way to differentiate yourself from the competition was to be seen to be more creative. And the way you did that was to win more awards than your competitors. And the only way to do that was to do a shitload of scam. So networks supported the game (even the toadies who claim to be squeaky clean). However, I believe the game has changed. It is no longer just about whether you are more creative, but also about how you can connect and involve consumers in a massively fragmented media landscape.”

Download the PDF of the story here: