Have you heard the scuttlebutt about this ad created by DDB Brasil allegedly for the Worldwide Wildlife Federation?

The clever agency created this shocking image of many planes targeting the NYC skyline and married the following inane copy to complete the picture: “The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it. www.wwf.org” All anchored by the cute panda bear WWF logo. Awww, I just wanna cuddle with it!

Now get a load of this: the WWF never approved the ad, yet it somehow ran once in a small newspaper making it eligible for entry in award shows, then it “accidentally” was entered in The One Show where it won a merit award. Yee-haw!

Oh, and oops, a little video was made of the same concept and entered in Cannes, where fortunately it was little noticed or awarded.
This is exactly the kind of crap that makes our industry a joke to legitimate businesses and why clients happily pay outside consultants and question every invoice we deliver. It’s not just the chasing of awards, but it’s doing it with lame in-your-face concepts with loopy logic. “The planet is brutally powerful”— curse you Mother Earth, you and your untimely earthquakes underwater! I will respect you! I will preserve you!

It’s an asinine ad. The video is even worse since it brings the bad taste comparison to inglorious low budget life.

If there is any justice, this agency will suffer for their boneheaded grab at a little glory, business will leave and bodies will fall.

The planet will smugly giggle. She’s brutally powerful that way.