French, Yu exchange blows in escalating row over scam ads

The region's scam ads row has seen an escalation in hostilities,

with Hong Kong 4As chairman Jeffrey Yu trading verbal blows with Ogilvy

Worldwide CD Neil French.

In response to a letter from Mr French, Bates Asia president Yu

described Mr French as "irresponsible" (see page 8).

"Unless we take our work seriously, we will not be taken

seriously ... and we cannot attract the best calibre talent and raise

standards," Mr Yu said.

Mr French upped the ante when he said: "Who cares if a few scam ads win

awards? It's not the Olympics. It's just a game: a side-show" (MEDIA,

November 10). However, the latest MEDIA-CNBC Asian Advertising Industry

poll (see page 20) found that 80 per cent of respondents believe that

scam ads either somewhat damage or seriously damage the industry's

credibility.

Senior creatives said that the issue must be resolved.

D'Arcy group CD Francis Cleetus said, "The measure of a creative

person's ability is the number of awards under his belt, but if the

awards are in question, that would make it that much more difficult for

us.

"Should we punish a creative who takes the initiative by coming up with

ideas before being formally presented with a brief from an existing

client?

I don't think so?"

Creatives said an important first step was to define a scam ad. Most

said an appropriate definition could be: "an ad that was run without the

knowledge and consent of the client," a sentiment supported by a

majority of respondents in the MEDIA-CNBC poll. This was the definition

used by the Singapore 4As to weed out dubious entries at its recent

Creative Circle Awards.

On whether ads which run once in fringe media like at 3am on TV, the

creatives offered mixed views.

"Obviously those ones should be scrutinised more closely. However, if

the client knew about it and consented to it, who are we to say it's a

scam ad?" said Mr Paul Ruta, CCA judging panel president and CD of M&C

Saatchi Singapore.