Scam ads: are they that bad for advertising?
OPINION: By Vivian Grieg
The entanglement between bad taste and scam increased after the recent DDB Brazil 9/11 ad.
But are all scam ads bad for advertising? Should all scam advertisements carry the damnation of our industry? Scams can also be entertaining, informative and opportunistic.
Scam ads have been appearing on YouTube showing their popularity among the viewing public. The Fake Mini Viral is a great example of how production companies can show their ability to build on the agency’s idea.
Banning bad taste from advertising would be a great idea but do wealso ban the shock value and impact of driver safety campaigns thatare operating effectively? Exploiting the misery of others to raisemoney for charity is a strategy that no one trends on.
But scam isn’t always shown in bad taste. What about scam competitions?
Most clients demurely allow positive scam. AusTrade say the recentBuilding Brand Australia logo competition “has absolutely nothing todo with us so we aren’t providing any advice and haven’t been askedfor any. We aren’t accepting logos or anything else outside of theformal procurement process”. There were 362 respondents from ourindustry to the competition vs 60 for the Tender’s credentialsubmissions.
The legal system is there to stop abusive ordestructive scam. But banning all scams takes them out of the adindustry judges’ ability to assess their creativity. Let the scams beseen for what they are, freewheeling ideas that weren’t harnessed. Ifscams do cross boundaries, their creators do so at their peril asclients and consumers will determine their future candidacy in theworld of advertising.
Vivian Greig
12 Comments
You don’t get given medals, for what you possibly could have done in the war.
No enemy, no trenches, no mud, no enemy guns, no rivers to cross.
Scam is running around a field with a stick, and time on your hands.
That’s fine. But don’t ask to be awarded for it.
And don’t think it has anything to do with the real job. It doesn’t.
I can see your callus free hands.
BARNES – 5 tours – scars to prove it.
Well considering Viv’s business operates on the principle of recycling ads, including those that have never been through a legitimate development process – scams – there’s just a wee bit of self-interest in her position, dontcha think?
But ok, let’s have the debate all over again.
Scams kill our credibility. There’s no other way of looking at it. It’s like a journalist writing a fake story. Or a car maker making a car without an engine. Or a diamond jeweler making a diamond ring out of glass. Scams are fake. They are made up bits of art to make people feel better about themselves. If you wanted to be an artist, make art and don’t get into advertising. We sell shit for a living – we are salesmen with a pretty pencil. Get over your bit inflated heads and deal with it. And don’t give me that argument about consumers wanting to see cool shit. Sure they want to see cool shit – it’s in art galleries and cinemas. We are the laughing stock of the artistic world – why do you think Denton invented The Gruen Transfer? He came up with the idea knowing that ad wankers would fall over themselves to provide content for free – because he know that the industry is full of tossers.
The intention seems wrong – sure it’s easier to pretend that it’s real
when it’s not. It seems very delusional. Not solutions to real problems, just pretending.
I don’t buy it, who would?
it’s funny when grumpy old people shout at one another
When all’s said and done, scams really aren’t anything more than practice ads. You don’t get prizes for practice efforts in any other endeavour – I think Barnes made that point very nicely.
well B&B looks like 362 people disagreed with you
What’s wrong with celebrating great ideas? Let’s give scam ads their own category and keep them away from the real ones.
Wouldn’t work, 8.43.
People only do scam ads so they can win real awards. And that’s the problem: there’s nothing wrong with doing fake ads for fun, and to flex your muscle… the problem only starts when people pass them off as the real thing.
Personally, I think some people are confused as to what a scam ad actually is. It’s not a fake ad per se… it’s a fake ad that’s being passed-off as a real ad in award shows.
What’s REALLY funny 5.06, is that every generation of under 30’s think they are so much more ahead of the game than their predecessors. And then they turn 30…
The 9/11 was the worst example of scam we could find vs the logo competition which had a more positive outcome for building awareness for both AusTrade and the competitors. There was no intention of disguising self interest. In fact, I’d welcome the designers who missed first prize to post their work for sale with us, provided they own copyright.
Our aim is to create opportunities to bring sme spend into the industry. The big shops may not need the work, but I still think there is scope for smaller shops to do good work for smaller clients, giving both a chance to grow.
Viv Greig
To a lesser and greater extent, have you ever seen an ad that’s NOT a scam?
Why, just the other day I saw one where the voice over and pictures promised I would be beautiful and be as a super model if I bought a bottle of hair colouring.
And another one promised that my kids would all smile at breakfast and grow in super athletes.
Etc, etc …