My final words, hopefully, on awards.

There is yet another article in Ad Age on the matter of fake ads and award shows. "Cannes: No Ban for Agencies Behind Scam Ads"
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=139683

It features the typical blatherings from the usual suspects about how difficult this problem is. One "Chief" states that banning someone or some agency from the awards shows for five years, as some have suggested, can ruin careers.

Fuck you.

A) Careers are being ruined every day because the industry is dieing while you are focusing on awards.
B) This is an easy problem to fix. The awards shows should simply demand a media plan attached to every entry.
C) Most every creative director I know can spot a fake a mile away. The same way a diamond-cutter can spot a cubic zirconia or I can spot fake breasts.
D) Perhaps some of the "luminary" creative directors should decry the prominence of the awards industry. We, the agencies, pay you hundreds of thousands to bestow awards on us.

Years ago I worked on the PC division of a prominent technology company. They claimed that their PCs had won "over 800 awards" and bid me to put that statistic in my copy. I refused.

Awards are meaningless if there are too many of them, if they are not based on real accomplishments or if you have to pay to get them.

I really think it's that simple.