Dentsu Utama resigns from the Malaysian 4As in response to Kancil Awards plagiarism accusation
Dentsu Utama and its representatives have resigned from the Malaysian 4As with immediate effect after being informed that eight of the Kancil awards related to the WWF Anti-Poaching Cross River Gorilla, and the Web Privacy Watch – Professional Man campaigns won in December 2015, will be revoked – a decision which the agency believe is unsupported.
As reported earlier, the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) unanimously decided their winning works were deemed sufficiently close to works created in the United Kingdom and Sweden.
The statement from the agency: On 29 December Dentsu Utama was accused of plagiarism, a claim it strongly disputes. Responding to these accusations, Dentsu Utama began an internal investigation into this allegation, supported by independent legal advice. The conclusion was that such accusations are unfounded.
Throughout this period Dentsu Utama has been openly cooperating with the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) on this issue. Dentsu Utama, without being given the opportunity to defend itself, has now been informed that eight of the Kancil awards related to the WWF Anti-Poaching Cross River Gorilla, and the Web Privacy Watch – Professional Man campaigns won in December 2015, will be revoked. A decision which we believe is unsupported.
As a result, Dentsu Utama and its representatives will resign from the 4As with immediate effect.
Dentsu Utama will continue its dialogue with the individual artists on this issue and continue to support its opinion that the allegations are unfounded.
5 Comments
Resigned?
Lucky before they got expelled!
Using the old offence is best defence strategy….bloody stubborn diehards….
Might be better for all if they resigned from advertising as well.
Denial is just silly, look at the work:
http://www.campaignbriefasia.com/2016/01/4as-malaysia-withdraws-some-ka.html
The trick is to steal the idea, not the execution, boys.
That optical illusion thing could have been a dozen different ways and just by changing the art direction, it would have been OK. That’s how the rest of us “Creative” folks do it:
Steal idea X, “borrow” execution Y, go out for 4-hour lunch.
Burp. Hic. Hic. Burp.
Originality? We don’t need no stinkin’ Originality!
The ad industry. Oh, the horror, the horror….
God, I hate myself…..*sob sob*
The evidence speaks for itself.
Just a thought, I wonder what their client has to say about this? Do they get a discount when it is revealed that this ECD lifted the idea?
The only person who should be resigning here is the ECD. They should have just took the bad PR and moved on.
Think anybody will even notice a few tables less at Kancils with everybody drinking it up? There will be no shortage of scammers.
No need to name them, we know who they are. This industry doesn’t give a shit. Have fun in Cannes Dentsu. Terry will give you awards regardless.