Looking back on a year of awards judging, in an industry that's beginning to mumble about creativity again, but doesn't yet have the nerve to shout about it.
Not to invoke Gowin's Law, but if there is no line drawn then some seriously awful things could win awards because of their "objectively creative" campaigns, this feels like a slippery slope.
That being said, if there are considerations which are definitely criteria against which things will be judged then this should be stated front and centre.
Yeah, certainly agree with your second para – there's no excuse for awards schemes not being clear about this stuff. And the thing is they know a lot fewer people would enter if they were explicit about it.
On the first para, I think most of the examples that comes into people's heads are things that wouldn't be legal anyway (an ad for the Nazi party etc.) But for everything else, I see no contradiction in an Extinction Rebellion campaign and a Shell ad being among the winners. If something is seriously awful and beyond the pale (and yet somehow still legal), awards schemes shouldn't be taking the entry money.
I also agree there's no such thing as perfect objectivity, or a perfect separation of creative and ethical. In the same way, it's not possible for criminal jurors to perfectly overcome all their biases. But that doesn't stop us asking everyone to try their best. And in most real-world cases, it's not that hard – I know plenty of people who like the BA campaign creatively but don't like it ethically.
"there's no excuse for awards schemes not being clear about this stuff. And the thing is they know a lot fewer people would enter if they were explicit about it"
this seems like the crux of it all, if you're going to stand for something you have to actually stand for it and accept that not everyone will agree with you, not try and do it quietly without anyone realising...
One of the best assessments of the current state of the industry Nick. Some great observations and conclusions. There’s a few more issues we could tackle such as blatant ageism within the industry but step by purposeful step, and bravo for shouting about something so seemingly ‘baked in’ to the current status quo.
Thanks Martin – and I agree on the ageism issue. I think a lot of these ethical questions become clearer when companies stop being dazzled by their imagined 'purpose'.
Not to invoke Gowin's Law, but if there is no line drawn then some seriously awful things could win awards because of their "objectively creative" campaigns, this feels like a slippery slope.
That being said, if there are considerations which are definitely criteria against which things will be judged then this should be stated front and centre.
Yeah, certainly agree with your second para – there's no excuse for awards schemes not being clear about this stuff. And the thing is they know a lot fewer people would enter if they were explicit about it.
On the first para, I think most of the examples that comes into people's heads are things that wouldn't be legal anyway (an ad for the Nazi party etc.) But for everything else, I see no contradiction in an Extinction Rebellion campaign and a Shell ad being among the winners. If something is seriously awful and beyond the pale (and yet somehow still legal), awards schemes shouldn't be taking the entry money.
I also agree there's no such thing as perfect objectivity, or a perfect separation of creative and ethical. In the same way, it's not possible for criminal jurors to perfectly overcome all their biases. But that doesn't stop us asking everyone to try their best. And in most real-world cases, it's not that hard – I know plenty of people who like the BA campaign creatively but don't like it ethically.
"there's no excuse for awards schemes not being clear about this stuff. And the thing is they know a lot fewer people would enter if they were explicit about it"
this seems like the crux of it all, if you're going to stand for something you have to actually stand for it and accept that not everyone will agree with you, not try and do it quietly without anyone realising...
One of the best assessments of the current state of the industry Nick. Some great observations and conclusions. There’s a few more issues we could tackle such as blatant ageism within the industry but step by purposeful step, and bravo for shouting about something so seemingly ‘baked in’ to the current status quo.
Thanks Martin – and I agree on the ageism issue. I think a lot of these ethical questions become clearer when companies stop being dazzled by their imagined 'purpose'.