Over a month ago, Brand Equity carried a front page article on that December affliction, ‘scamititis’.
However, the real question to be posed is why on earth do creative souls resort to such deceptive tactics? We know the symptoms. Let's get down to
the causes of this disease.
It's easy to dismiss these attempts as shameless attempts at glory, but let's begin by asking if there is any shame in left in advertising. Or for that matter any honour, dignity or integrity?
Sunil Shibad
As professionals, we are just above salesmen of used-cars, in terms of respect.
The brilliant American writer F Scott Fitzgerald said, "Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero."
Account executives and media planners can get away with ‘I handled megabucks brands’. Art directors and copywriters everywhere are judged on their portfolios, awards won, and these days, the number of times they have employed the services of cricketers and Bollywood stars to endorse their clients' brands.
On the other hand, all through the year they are asked to churn out drivel that would insult the intelligence of a two-year old.
They are commanded by their leaders to come up with cookie-cutter ideas that are in line with a client's global brand guidelines.
These are the very same leaders who encourage the creation of ghost ads (and they shout from the rooftops if one of them wins the ‘Norwegian Toe Nail Clippers Association Award’ for best ad for a pedicurist).
I can hear them say, "Hey, it's December! Time for those tantrum-throwing creative types let off some steam. Let's get them to do some ghost ads. Keep the troops' morale up."
‘There are real clients out there who need real solutions’ is a platitude. If a brilliant idea was to be handed on a platter to the client servicing team, would they be able to sell it?
Good ideas are scary and ads these days hardly leave me wetting my pants.
This brings us to the cause of the disease: a system that has failed to produce account executives who can sell good ideas.
Rather than just slam scam ads, we should focus on creating an environment that encourages account executives to sell ideas, as opposed to merely going back and forth like glorified peons.
(The writer is creative director at The Flea. You can write to him at sshibad@fleaglobal.com.)
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