DM9 Lions Withdrawn After Entry Rule Violations


Cannes Lions announced today that after an investigation into a Grand Prix-winning awards entry from Brazilian agency DM9 on behalf of appliance maker Consul, the submission and the multiple awards it won have been withdrawn. 

DM9 also withdrew submissions for two other award-winning campaigns at the festival. 

The Lions organization said the actions followed that discovery that “AI-generated and manipulated content was used within the case film [for Consul’s “Efficient Way To Pay” campaign] to simulate real world events and campaign outcomes, resulting in the jury being present with inaccurate information during their deliberations.” 

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“This breaches the Cannes Lions entry rules on factual representation, and undermines the trust placed in the work by our juries and the wider community, the organization added. “Cannes Lions exists to celebrate creativity that is real, representative, and responsible.” 

Cannes Lions also stated that DM9 had chosen to withdraw two additional award-winning entries--‘Plastic Blood’ for OKA Biotech, and ‘Gold = Death’ for Urihi Yanomami. “All parties acknowledge that the level of legitimacy does not meet the necessary standard. All prizes will be withdrawn as a result.” 

The three campaigns won multiple Lions at the Festival last week. But Cannes Lions confirmed that even with the withdrawn submissions DDB Worldwide retains its Network of the Year standing for 2025.  

Looking ahead, Cannes Lions said it will introduce a series of measures to ensure the Integrity of the awards process “in the era of synthetic content, media, and generative AI.” 

These include: 

  • An enhanced Code of Conduct that must be signed by all participating organizations. 

  • Mandatory AI disclosure as part of the entry process, with non-disclosure constituting grounds for disqualification or withdrawal. 

  • Content detection tools may be used to help identify manipulated case films and materials. 

  • A dedicated review committee comprised of experts in AI, ethics, and content integrity. 

The controversy began last week shortly after this year’s Cannes ad Festival ended when an anonymous whistleblower presented evidence of the violations to Adage.com. 

Earlier this week DM9 acknowledged some “failures” related to its submission for the Consul campaign and apologized. Yesterday the agency’s Chief Creative Officer and co-president Icaro Doria resigned.  

 
Pictured above is a clip from the disputed "Efficient Ways To Pay" Lions submission video. 

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