wow it doesn't even look like a scam ad

Ouch!

show me the ad in dubai lynx that wasnt scam.

its stupid from the agency to do the obvious scam on a client they dont even have.

its stupid from the show to make such a big deal out of it. if they only allow real legit work next year they wont have any entries.

Yellow pages?

I'm with 9.33... BUT I imagine the magnitude of the offence (amount of winners) required notable action, surely.

I don't think this will change a thing - what is truly 'scam' is such a grey area, and it always will be. It's here to stay.

When Ben Johnson got caught using roids, everyone felt so much better about themselves because they nailed the bad guy.

Of course, it turned out that pretty much everyone else in that race was also on the gear.

If scam ads are here to stay does that mean real ads are dead?

OMG

Don't they cut your leg off for this in the Middle East?

Let this be the first of many.

"Dubai-ous". adj. Describing an ad with a very suspect background, usually viewed only on adsoftheworld.com, which subsequently picks up metal.

Oops.

9:59's comment 'What is truly 'scam' is such a grey area and always will be' must rank in the top 3 most ridiculous comments ever on this blog.

So, I'll try and make it so simple even he/she will understand why he/she is wrong and always will be wrong.

1] Did the client approve of the ad [whether briefed or an agency initiative]?

and

2] Did the client pay for the ad and approve and pay for the media?

If the answer to either is 'yes' it's a scam/illegitimate or whatever else you like to call it and ALWAYS WILL BE.

What's so grey about that?

Oh dear

http://paragonanubis.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/ups-or-aramex.jpg?w=449&h=972

http://www.bestadsontv.com/print_details.php?id=19994

Quarantine Asian agencies right now. If this is allowed to spread the whole world of advertising could become infected.

errr, 1:12pm, did you re-read that before posting?

'Dubai-ous' is gold

Maybe Dubai is the new Singapore. Should be pointed out though that Doha is in Qatar.

I think there is definitely room for proactivity and initiative work in our industry, some clients need a kick up the pants and doing work proactively is a great way of helping them see what's possibly. But this is just flat out retarded, I mean, seriously? Did they really think they'd get away with that? It's not like Samsung is a little brand either.

The thing is that Manly have now lost 3 from 3.

Years ago they might have got away with it. The web has put a stop to that. Bloggers can be much more diligent than judges. See here for example: http://bloganubis.com/2009/03/21/enough-is-enough/

I agree with 2.22. Bang on.

2.22, I think about Manly daily.

I feel sorry for the Manly Daily.

With all this cracking down on scam they'll be feeling the impact of the economic downturn pretty severely.

2.21:
There is a difference between proactive/initiative and scam. There is nothing wrong when you do a proactive ad for a client as long as they subsequently approve it and pay to run it. That's good business practice.

But if they don't approve and pay for it it is a scam and should be eradicated.

Is Yellow Pages in this dirty lot? I need to know.

That blog is interesting stuff. When they scam, those FP7 guys don't fuck around, do they?

2:21, unfortunately an 'initiative' ad is seldom conceived with the client's interests at heart. It's usually a shameless attempt to win glory for its creators, no matter how much post-rationalisation occurs afterwards.

Dubai?

Who gives a fuck.

WHAT??! PEOPLE DO SCAMS?!!

Someone (above) says "Did the client pay for the ad and approve and pay for the media?"

Me, I don't give a shite if the client doesn't pay for the ad.

A lot of ads in the catagory - 'Heres a dead baby, where's my award' (or public service as it's sometimes called) aren't paid for by the client.

For me the only thing that MUST happen, is that the client gives permission for the ad to run.

If they do - fair enough.

6.46.
The point is not that people do scams. It's that people who do scams are finally being outed as the frauds they are and rightly being stripped of awards they do not deserve to win. Let's hope this carries over into Cannes

Sadly they've ruined it for the rest of us. A lot of agencies do spec/proactive work for their OWN clients and enter it ALONG WITH real their real paid work iinto the award shows but at least it is for their own clients. It's somewhat palatable then. However if the agency's entire body of award work is scam, that is very sad and wrong and it isn't fair for the rest of the creatives of the world who do proactive work for their own clients. This sort of shit makes clients very dubious of agencies and then they refuse to run a proactive piece for awards at all. The truth is a lot of clients also want to be famous with awards but given the amount of press this catastrophe has received, even the adventurous clients will start to play it safe. And that is the beginning of the end for creativity.

Some people may think that Dubai is the new creative centre of the universe,but everyone knows those that work there only do so because they have to.......and now they're being outed.....good.

Only a couple people can really share the truth about those ads, but I suspect it made through last years crop of genetically modified work without entering the local press, just like a lot of other copies and scams from FP7, Saatchi's and JWT. They were lucky to get away with what they did as most of us over here knew what they had question marks over the authenticity, they weren't outed like this year's batch.

You only have to read the Dubai press regularly and this stuff never appears in it other than in the creative's dreams.

Scams are passable. But the real issue over here is the blatant copying of other people's work. I'm not talking about the coincidence of two ideas but the exact copying and only replacing a logo. It's a disgraceful act.

Now that I've had my rant, if you don't mind I have to go and bleach my dish-dash from the camel fun I had earlier.

Our worth is as inflated as the stock market was 18 months ago. It's not real, people. Awards aren't real, but the money that turns around on them is. My mum doesn't know what a Cannes Lion is. She thinks a Clio is car made by Renault and AWARD is what school leavers get paid. Only in Adland do these trade awards hold such import. I have a few friends in the plumbing trade. I have no idea what the plumbing industry gongs are called, but I know for a fact most plumbers don't give a shit about them. And they get paid considerably more than most of us. Advertising awards are like publishing your own poetry. You pay a couple of hundred bucks and get to see your name in a book that only the authors will ever read. But you know what the dumbest thing is? I know all this and I still play the game because for now, awards mean respect, profile and the use of my MD's boat.

Running ads without clients' approval is the biggest sin an agency can do, reminds me of a similar incident back in 2000 where a campaign for a zoo was found to be illegally entered without client's knowledge. Subsequently the Cannes Lion was stripped from the agency. Speaking of clients, surely the ones that embraces
pro-active work, they wouldn't be that stupid to approve ads if they thought the agency wasn't doing a great day-to day job on their brand in the first place.

In Dubai it's called 'Mirage' advertising.

As long as agencies are dumb enough to allow CD's to use them for their own personal gain, this will always happen.

Note to CEOs (if any read this blog): If your ECD tries to tell you that the best way to grow your business is to win bucketloads of awards via 'proactive' work... laugh at him/them. Because all he's going to do is use your agency, win HIS awards, quit and leave you in the shit with a whole bunch of disgruntled clients. Disgruntled because they've either been ignored, or been bullied into running work the really didn't like.

An interesting footnote to the Taronga Zoo scam scandal of 2000, 9:42.

The creative director (who when he was hired was told to win awards for the agency) was fired and went on to start a BrandPower type of operation, which you might describe as the very opposite strategy to one of award-winning creativity.

The lesson here is that to some people advertising is an opportunity for fame and/or money and it really doesn't matter how you achieve those goals.

Perhaps they understand the industry better than the poor saps (I think that's most of us) who think it's about doing nice ads.

11:59

you lame douche

I saw an ad come out of Dubai last week for Ansett.

jail the scammers--that should stop the practice.

and lest some creatives think we're nothing but spoilsports, let's hold a yearly Scamfest! a brilliant gallery of "what-ought-to-bes" that should keep creatives well-oiled and give legit clients, well, ideas.

anti creativity

Just withdrawing the ADs wont help.
Punish the guilty.