I Sea app removed from Ad Stars shortlist
Global advertising awards show Ad Stars has quietly removed the ‘I Sea’ app from its shortlist.
The competition organiser informed Mumbrella yesterday that the entry, which was among the finalists in the mobile category, had been “ruled out” of the running.
Mumbrella raised questions about the controversial campaign’s inclusion on the shortlist some weeks ago, and only now has Ad Stars clarified that it will not be in contention and the wrong shortlist had been uploaded to its website.
For the revised Ad Stars shortlist, click here.
The I Sea app, which was claimed to be a clever way to spot stranded refugees in the Mediterranean by agency Grey Singapore, was deleted from Apple’s app store because it didn’t actually work, but went on to win an award at Cannes in June.
Grey has said that it would hand back the Lions it won for the work after what it described as “unrelenting attacks”, although its award is still listed on the Cannes Lions winners website.
The agency has been attempting to remove trace of the campaign since the controversy broke in the weeks after Cannes.
It has taken down the case study video from YouTube and deleted the statement on its website that defended the app by saying it was only in “testing mode”. The link to the statement now leads to a 404 error message.
The creative director of Grey Southeast Asia, Ali Shabaz, is on the executive jury for Ad Stars, and a number of his campaigns remain in contention.
Among them is an idea for a Danish charity to clear landmines from conflict zones and an algorithm that reversed the meaning of posts beneath an article about Pakistan’s blasphemy law.
News of the removal of the I Sea app from the Ad Stars shortlist comes the day after the story of swimmer Yusra Mardini, who saved the lives of 20 refugees from drowning in the Mediterranean, dominated media attention in the early stages of the Olympics in Rio.
Yusra Mardini is a hero…then you have the creators of this fake app…hacks who cant perform on real briefs.
It is surprising that adstars actually allowed this to get to finalist level…..i can only inagine it was mumbrellas constant haranguing that helped them make the right decision. Well done Mumbrella!
ReplyWhen one of Lionel Hunt’s ecds at lowe hunt sydney did a scam for taronga zoo, he fired the guy straight away….and from what i understand, the guy didnt ever get hired as an ecd to this day.
Out here in asia, these guys are being placed on a pedestal and honoured for faking it.
WTF is going on?
ReplyCan anyone even confirm that they actually returned the bronze lion to Cannes….or did they just announce it and do nothing?
Would not put it at all past them…given their history of lying.
ReplyThis raises a major issue about industry awards: How do they vet entries? This really should not have happened – it’s embarrassing and unacceptable. In my (admittedly somewhat limited) experience, I haven’t seen proper vetting done at these shows; instead, the focus is on getting as many entries as possible. It’s a legitimate concern, but, really, it has to be balanced with quality of entries.
ReplyOne bad apple certainly spoils the whole bunch.
Scam crap like this from Singapore agencies taints the name of any decent talent looking to for a gig outside the country (it’s also the reason why they’re looking outside). This whole debacle (just like Life Saving Dot last year, and BBDO’s Guinness print ad before it) really is a stain for Singapore’s industry.
We’re becoming a laughing stock and we deserve better from our agency leaders.
ReplyI hope the reasons set forward are true. But it is odd that he is pulling out of the jury over a month in advance of judging due to a family illness – however that person would be ill now – because how would he know a month in advance? Mr. Shabaz was scheduled to judge in Busan (right about now), so it would have made more sense for him to pull out of that jury due to his reason. So I guess he’s not only a creative scam director, but a psychic as well?
ReplyHave your say