• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, June 3, 2015

Speaking at the Mumbrella360 conference in Sydney, founder of Sydney-based ad agency Ted Horton said the industry's desire for creative awards has become corrupt. 

Likening things to FIFA's less-than-stellar reputation, Horton said: “I haven’t entered an awards show since 1991. I stopped because I lived in that world, which I call planet advertising. Awards are totally out of control. It’s just taken over. It’s a cult, someone said ‘It’s like the new FIFA’. It’s that bad, it’s just corrupted what we’re here for. It’s out of balance. But I understand that people want their work recognized -- even Jesus Christ liked to be praised.”

He went on to say: “It used to be the icing on the cake, now it’s the entire cake too. It’s like the cake show my wife insists I watch – and it’s all icing and all fancy and it’s all that, but I never see them making the cake and that’s what awards and advertising are like now.”

And for those who are raising their hand right now saying, "Oh but wait, all ad awards aren't just about creativity. Some are about actual effectiveness," Horton has some words for you. 

After all the Cannes Lions-like Festival of Creativity crap is over and done with and clients begin to ask which ads actually worked, Horton adds: “Then we get to the stage where we have to tell them how effective we are, so what do we do? We come up with an award for effectiveness. It’s crazy that for even effectiveness we have to have an award for it! It just drives me nuts.”

Oh yes. It's like a self-esteem club. Everyone gets an award. Why? Probably because everyone did when they were in school. Just for showing up. So it's expected. Even for crap work .