DDB Brazil lied about WWF 9/11 video
September 4 2009, 5:19 am | | 36 Comments
Laurel Wentz from AdAge reports that, after initially lying about it, DDB Brasil now admits it created a video version of the WWF print ad ‘Tsunami’, which has caused a scandal this week.
See the video version of the ad, which DDB Brazil initially denied any knowledge of, even though it was an official entry at Cannes this year. Ouch.
The ad is still featured on Adsoftheworld and was submitted by ‘Roberto’ to www.bestadsontv.com, but was rejected.Click on thumbnail below, taken from the Bestads admin site.
36 Comments
There’s only only one question,
“What are you going to do about it?”
The most common answer will be nothing.
That’s the real tragedy.
Not only is it brazenly and shamefully using the WWF logo, but it’s a terrible, terrible idea.
What a bunch of dipshits.
1. To create it.
2. To put it out there and submit it to an award show.
3. To deny / lie about creating it.
4. To admit creating it.
5. To actually think this is good work.
Next they’ll try and draw a tenuous link to nature and the holocaust.
Far out. A simple ‘hey, in Brasil we thought it was frickin hilarious but we didn’t realise the US would be so uptight about their government blowing up new york buildings’ would have sufficed.
The worst crime is the lie, not the ad.
What’s that taste in my mouth?
The desperation of trying to win a Lion certainly has it’s pitfalls. This is just so wrong for so many reasons.
That’s one of the best ads I’ve seen in a long time!!! Well done DDB
Not the first time we have heard lies from advertising people, isn’t that their job?
Originally created with the intention of causing controversy.
Tick.
Has anyone consider that this is the most famous WWF print ad in well probably ever? And since WWF were so quick to denounce it there brand hasn’t really been hurt at all.
This piece of contemptible bile is precisely the reason the industry is falling to such low levels.
I used to work with a pair of absolute fucking cretins who’s boss paid thousands for them to produce scam.
They’re now in senior positions after only a few years in the business.
Sour grapes? Fuck yeah. Very talented people are being left behind by a large group of scammers who’ve been fortunate enough to be in agencies that actually condone this sort of shit.
And those scammers get famous, appear on juries and haven’t got a clue about real advertising, or indeed talent, so they award metal to the stuff they know – highlighter pens, bike locks and endless shit for charity.
And so the circle is complete.
When the fuckers eventually screw up a real job (which they invariably do) they simply leave with their folio crammed with lion winning crap and hunt for award opportunities in the next agency fool enough to hire them.
Business gets put in jeopardy, young creatives have nobody to look up to, award shows recognise scam.
And we wonder why the business has gone to hell.
This ad should be the final nail in the coffin of scam. It SHOULD be, but it won’t be. Thousands of innocent lives used to win an award. This is the lowest we’ve got to.
And whoever thinks this ad is any good should have a long, hard think about precisely why they’re in this business.
Fuck it, show images of real death, beheadings. After all, we’re scraping so low for attention it’s the only place left to go.
Cunts.
8:53, you’re not getting to role of advertising are you? It’s about making a difference, not raising awareness. That’s always the bullshit argument that creatives use to do scams. I’m a creative by the way, and I’m sick of that lame assed and lazy excuse.
How very DDB.
9:40, well said. You should have put your name to that, you should be proud of it.
Very well put. And not a single spelling or grammatical error to fuck it up. I agree with every word. I guess, the real answer is to change what you can and ignore what you can’t. Start your own agency that espouses and practices the values that you hold dear. Passion that isn’t harnessed is passion that is wasted.
I guess we’re all guilty of it. Who would you rather hire: A dude with 3 years experience ranked number 2 on the CPB list, or a dude with no awards and 15 years of big dumb ads on his reel, with maybe 1 or 2 charmers?
I’d probably hire the guy with 15 years experience because he’s cheaper, but if I had the cash, I’d go with the hotshot.
The more awards you win the better your agency looks the more chance you have of winning pitches. It’s not just the creatives who push CDs to win awards, it’s the MDs as well.
DDBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
9:41 I think he gets it, making a difference is for the UN and school teachers. He may not condone the Ad at all but amazingly finds it interesting that a print ad was published, the whole world saw it (appeared on CNN, Fox News, BBC and countless blogs.) and the client came off looking okay. And the message still got out there.
I am sure he is just thinking maybe there could be something in this approach.
Like the double out fake of advertising.
Just a thought.
A list of everyone who died in on 9/11.
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-name/
Sobering.
I wonder how many names are credited on the WWF ad.
A cover up about a cover up.
10:41 – There was an error in his spelling. It’s whose instead of who’s. But other than that I agree with both of you fully. For so many reasons, awards are wrong.
The only course of action is for a Shock and Awe invasion of Brazil!
Good on you 9.40am.
Same on you DDB Brazil
Yawn. Half of New Zealand and most of Singapore did it and are probably doing it right now.
Scam, proactive, agency initiative, whatever you want to call it. So what? Do your job during the day and your scams at night and on the weekend. Call up the client. Sell it. Call up the media company. Run it. Fill in the award form. Enter it. Win an award. Climb up the greasy pole another rung.
If you know this is the way it works, stop whining that other people are doing it and see if you’re good enough to do it yourself. Sanctimonious ad nerds pontificating about truth on an ad blog, seriously, it’s like taking a morality lesson in a porno store.
The ECD is obviously desperate for awards.
With any luck the idiot will also be desperately looking for a new job.
He alone should be sacked for letting this out of his agency.
Let’s not forget they were agency of the year at Cannes.
I think it’s a good idea. Makes me think that nature is powerful. Even more powerful than humans. Job done.
The most depressing thing is that it’s now fairly clear that it wasn’t just the agency that lied, but WWF lied – again.
There is a growing trend for Green and Wildlife groups to lie and lie constantly with the excuse that they want to “frighten us out of our complacency”.
These constant lies muddy the water about important issues and only serve to undermine their own credibility.
We see too many of their leaders attempting to justify these constant lies (Al Gore is top of the pole) by saying the “ends justify the means” – but surely we heard too much of that kind of logic throughout the previous century.
To all those fools defending this ad, can we take it you’d be happy to extend the campaign using a pic of the children massacred by Chechan rebels in Beslan.
Scams are scams. Appalling taste is something else again.
It makes me cringe.
Cunts
10:35 Said
“I think it’s a good idea. Makes me think that nature is powerful. Even more powerful than humans. Job done.”
No amount of conservation is going to prevent a Tsunami
JOB FAILED on many levels.
I notice people are speaking fluent english in Brazil these days.
Not the first time I’ve seen an insensitive ad for a charity. At least it got talked about, although the strategy seemed to be a little untrue.
“This piece of contemptible bile is precisely the reason the industry is falling to such low levels.
I used to work with a pair of absolute fucking cretins who’s boss paid thousands for them to produce scam”
hahahaha – someone is bitter.
Lost your job recently?
My only problem with this ad is that it makes no sense. Neither the Tsunami nor the 9/11 attacks were results of humans not preserving nature.
One was an earthquake, the other religious confusion.
Post this announcement expect to sales of Scrabble, binoculars and highlighter pens plummet.
DDBOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
cover up…about a cover up…you completely suck…as does your work…