By Matthieu Lamoureux.
The celebratory drinks at the end of this year's Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity were weakened for some with revoked Lions, AI-controversy, greenwashing claims and unverified campaign statistics.
Matthieu Lamoureux, editor of the marketing blog LLLLITL, is pushing to re-allocate the Lions instead of leaving the categories reward-less.
“Since the end of the festival, most Cannes Lions-related news has turned overwhelmingly negative,” Lamoureux told AdNews.
“As a long-time admirer of creativity, and someone who has been covering the best of the festival for 13 years, this really saddened me.
“That’s how I started thinking about how to flip the narrative into something positive.
“I wanted to shine a light on the work that played fair, honest creative campaigns that truly deserved recognition but may have been overlooked due to the fierce competition from scam entries."
Brazil’s DM9, owned by DDB, returned its Creative Data Grand Prix and 11 other lions for Whirpool’s Consul Brand ‘Efficient Way to Pay’ after admitting to using AI-altered footage, including clips from CNN Brasil.
Outdoor Silver Lion-winning campaign ‘Nature Shapes Britannia’ by India’s Britannia and Talented was criticised by former Cannes Lions juror Polina Zabrodskaya for greenwashing sustainability claims.
Others, including LePub São Paulo’s Bronze Lion–winning Followers Store, has had claims of unverifiable campaign results.
Lamoureux describes some campaigns as ghost campaigns, work that presents false information which deceives jurors and the festival.
“While exaggerated numbers and campaigns designed primarily to win awards have always existed, it seems that this year has seen a concerning escalation,” Lamoureux said.
“Marketing media and industry talents have flagged manipulated media using AI, misleading sustainability claims and there are even a few cases where the clients themselves questioned the legitimacy, reach or impact of the work submitted."
To relocate the controversial Cannes awards, Lamoureux said the 12 affected juries would need to reconvene and reassign the campaigns to another winner.
“Withdrawing Lions from the cheaters is a good step, but I quickly realised that this would leave many awards unassigned," he aid. "In fact, two categories wouldn’t even have a Grand Prix this year.
“Ultimately, I believe the festival should not just withdraw awards from scam entries, yes they should physically reassign them to the rightful winners.
“You could think of the Cannes Lions as the 'Olympics of advertising,' and in the Olympics, when an athlete is disqualified for doping, their medal is reallocated to the next eligible competitor.
“I think Cannes should follow that principle, but I appreciate this comes with many challenges.
“In the last few days I’ve spoken with 10 jurors from the 2025 edition, all of them support withdrawing the awards and agree that stricter upfront verification should be introduced before campaigns are even shortlisted.
“The good news is the festival is already moving in this direction, so I think we’re on a promising path.”
Lamoureux worked with Piotr Bombol and Adaily, an AI-powered platform for marketers, to allocate the controversial Cannes awards to other winners.
While AI raising controversy in its legitimacy in Cannes, Lamoureux believes it can be used for good.
“This controversy perfectly illustrates the dual nature of AI,” Lamoureux said.
“It can deliver both the best and the worst. On one hand, AI allows creative ideas to scale and have a bigger impact at a lower cost, which is incredibly exciting.
“On the other hand, when used with dishonest intentions, it can damage the credibility of our entire industry.
“We believe AI could actually be part of the solution. It could help the festival detect scam entries in the future.”
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