A 6:00 p.m. e mail from jury chief Marc Tutssel informed the story: “Hi, I have just been informed that the Grand Prix Scrabble campaign was entered in 2008,” the veteran Leo Burnett adman informed his fellow voters. “As a result I am upgrading the Billboard [magazine] campaign to Grand Prix, I just wanted to urgently inform you before this evening.”
4. Creepy air-con
In 2011, Brazilian store Moma Propaganda touted the AC within the Kia Sportage with a steamy cartoon advert depicting a pubescent feminine pupil asking her goatish male instructor for an anatomy lesson. Ostensibly created for Kia Motors Brazil, the advert took two awards at Cannes—till it emerged that they’d by no means run.
Shortly after, Kia Motors America said it had “no business relationship” with the company. “The ad is undoubtedly inappropriate,” the assertion continued, “and on behalf of Kia Motors we apologize to those who have been offended by it.”
5. The yr of Brazilian blunders
While the 2025 awards would flip heads with the forfeited Bronze-winning marketing campaign from LePub São Paulo for New Balance—one which New Balance didn’t know had been submitted—the notoriety trophy goes to a different snafu out of São Paulo.
Agency DM9’s work for equipment model Consul’s “Efficient Way to Pay” program gained a Grand Prix that yr—till Cannes officers found AI-altered CNN footage within the case research.
DM9 copped to “a series of errors.”
