One of the best threads of commentary to come out of Cannes was from Cindy Gallop, author, founder and CEO, If We Ran The World/Make Love Not Porn.
ET Bureau
The latest edition of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity had its fair share of surprises that are hard to categorise. Here are a few of the bizarre side-events that stole at least part of the show. One of the best threads of commentary to come out of Cannes was from Cindy Gallop, author, founder and CEO, If We Ran The World/Make Love Not Porn, who was also the chairperson of the inaugural Glass Lions jury at the Cannes Lions 2015. She shed light on two of the many controversies that hit Cannes this year. She called out the “male-dominated” ad industry for awarding a Bronze Lion to an offensive and sexist ad from Almap BBDO. It reads: “Don’t worry babe, I’m not filming this.mov” and features two packets of Aspirin. She tweeted: “Don’t use this to sell aspirin, maledominated ad industry [and] don’t award it, male dominated juries.” And she added later: “In world plagued by revenge porn + filmed gang rape in Rio @ almapbbdo @bayer Brazil win bronze #canneslions for this” After people on social media lambasted the makers, jury and festival organizers, the client, Bayer, disowned the campaign and asked the agency to discontinue it. And then there was this… @cindygallop: “It’s 2016, @ vaynermedia @thrillist. This is not how you party at @ cannes_lions. #canneslions #changetheratio”.
In 2013, Bubbles Films, a German production company, won a Bronze Lion for a film titled “Pedro” for Volkswagen. In 2016, they melted the lion, extracted the copper and added it to ink. Ink it used to tattoo Cannes Lions delegates at its Award Ink Studio on the Croisette. This way everyone’s a winner! You get a Lion, and you get a Lion, and you get a Lion. Lions for everyone! Err… everyone’s already got one. And the kind you won’t have to explain later or blame on the booze.
ET Bureau
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