Stupid insensitive illegal ad from DDB?

[Paramvir]

There are plenty of clever, big-hearted, decent people in the ad industry. But how stupid can ad guys get? Really, really, really stupid. With an extra helping of stupid sauce on the side.
DDB Brazil, hoping to drum up business with the World Wildlife Fund, created this ad, which pointed out that the body count of the Indian Ocean Tsunami dwarfed that of September 11, and admonished, "The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it." Just this morning, the WWF condemned the ad, claiming that it never solicited nor approved it--and further citing DDB Brazil for illegal use of its lo

The advert titled Tsunami was done by DDB BRASIL advertising agency for WWF company in ISRAEL. It was released in the August 2009. Business sector is Public awareness messages.
Credits:
Agency: DDB Brasil
Title of Ad: Tsunami
Advertiser/Client: WWF Brasil
Product or Service: Environmental Awareness
Executive Creative Director: Sergio Valente, Rodolfo Sampaio, Julio Andery
Creative Director: Sergio Valente, Rodolfo Sampaio, Julio Andery, Guilherme Jahara
Copywriter: Adriano Matos, Rodolfo Sampaio
Art Director: Guilherme Jahara
Photographer: Getty Images
Illustrator: Big Studios
Art Buyer: Carmen Castillo, Carolina Galastri, Clariana da Costa
Account Supervisor: Alcir Gomes Leite, Ana Paula Grassmann
Advertiser's Supervisor: Heloisa Helena de Oliveira
Producer: Nereu Marinho, Edson Harada

UPDATE: The poo thickens: Apparently, WWF's Brazilian operation actually okay'd the Septermber 11 ad by DDB Brazil--It actually ran in a newspaper, despite WWF's insistence that it was never solicited nor approved. And additionally, someone created a full-blown TV version--and DDB Brazil claims it wasn't them. Uh-huh. DDB Brazil has been trying to stamp out the video on the Web. But the damn thing about the Internet is that it always wins:

Read the full article here

[Paramvir]

the WWF statements:

WASHINGTON, DC, September 3, 2009 – World Wildlife Fund today issued the following statement in response to an ad and video that has been linked to our organization and contains messages and images related to the events of 9-11.

“WWF reiterates our strong condemnation and repudiation of this offensive and tasteless ad and reaffirms that no one in the US organization had any knowledge or any role in the ad’s creation and expresses its regret for any pain it may have caused 9-11 victims and their families.

“Earlier this week, WWF-US issued a statement based on information provided by WWF Brazil, a separate and independent organization within the international WWF network, that the ad was created by an outside agency and was not authorized by anyone within their organization.

read more here


[youtube]vurOieYe7OA[/youtube]

[Paramvir]

also see the video here, which it seems DDB Brazil has been trying to stamp out from the web.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- After initially lying about it, DDB Brasil now admits it created a video version of the Brazilian print ad "Tsunami," which has caused a scandal this week -- and entered both ads in the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June.

Read more here

The "Tsunami" ad surfaced first on the blog Ads of the World, and DDB Brasil speculated that the blogger had picked it up from the One Show site. However, Ivan Raszl, who posted the work on the blog, said he'd received it as part of a DDB press release. The work was also sent to Ad Age this week by DDB Brasil's PR department, which regularly sends new work to journalists and apparently blasted out the WWF ad by mistake.

Meanwhile, the WWF-U.S. issued yet another statement, following a joint statement yesterday by WWF in Brazil and DDB Brasil apologizing for any offense caused by the ad.

"WWF Brazil has subsequently issued statements that have raised doubts about whether the ad concept was approved at some level within the WWF Brazil organization," the WWF-U.S. statement said. "We have now relaunched a renewed inquiry into the circumstance surrounding the creation of the ad. Additionally, we are using every resource at our disposal to remove these images everywhere they exist online because they are hurtful and disrespectful to the victims of 9/11 and their families."

DDB Brasil offered an official apology on their website here

[vikas]

very bad. in very bad taste indeed.

anyway, we better be careful with our scam work, since thats what fills our portfolios

[Ek Kanya]

i hope there's a crackdown from Clients on agencies pushing their teams to win awards, come what may! I hate to sit awake all nights in office end of very year, trying to come with some crappy-smart-ass idea so I can get a promotion!