Two weeks after awarding, the Dubai Lynx festival is still making headlines. Reports on April 1 stated that the Agency of the Year awarded to FP7 Doha has been withdrawn, with the trophy not to be awarded at all for 2009.
An enterprising blog blew the whistle on a number of prized entries as scam ads. An official investigation found merit in the allegations, and ultimately withdrew seven awards: 1 Gold Print campaign, 1 Gold TV/Cinema campaign, 3 Silver Print campaigns, 1 Silver Outdoor campaign, 1 Bronze TV/Cinema campaign. The agency had 18 submissions. The Dubai Lynx body also expunged ten shortlisted entries in the Print and Outdoor sections.
The controversy erupted even before awards night, when an entry from FP7 Doha for supposed-client Nissan was withdrawn from the shortlist. Nissan reportedly complained that the ad was not commissioned by the company. The situation led to the investigation of the agency’s entries for Samsung and Matchbox.
In a statement on the Dubai Lynx official site, CEO Philip Tomas said, "The Dubai Lynx Awards exists to celebrate and raise the creative bar of genuine work of the region. Activities like this show a disregard, not only for the Awards, but more importantly for the juries who work so hard judging the event. Due to the scale of withdrawals we feel it inappropriate to honour FP7 Doha as Agency of the Year and so will be withdrawing the prize. I hope that this swift action makes clear our determination to build an award with true integrity for the region."
A Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival production, the Dubai International Advertising Festival is a celebration of the collective creatives of the region that features exhibits of advertising excellence in TV/Cinema, Print, Outdoor, Radio, Interactive, Direct & Sales Promotion, Media and Integrated advertising. Jury heads and members are renowned ad industry personalities.
