Timed to the start of the Cannes Lions ad festival, DeSmog – an organization that chronicles global warming misinformation -- has published an investigation examining 20 of the top Cannes Lions "Award for Good" winners since 2020, and how many of them reportedly “don't hold up.” 

According to the report (see it here) at least eight of the 20 campaigns analyzed made large, specific environmental impact claims, including tons of CO2 avoided, acres of farmland converted, coral reefs restored -- that DeSmog could not independently verify.  

According to the group, some agencies took credit for work done by others, in some cases years before the agency was even involved, per the analysis.  

One campaign examined in the report was Africa Creative DDB's "Amazon Greenventory," winner of a 2025 SDG Grand Prix. The report cites an undisclosed source revealing that the AI and drone mapping technology for the effort dated back to 2019 and was developed by a different company entirely.  Africa Creative reportedly came late to the effort and coined the campaign name for the awards submission.    

Another example cited in the Desmog report: Saatchi & Saatchi's 2022 Cannes-winning #TurnToCold campaign for P&G's Tide.

The report states that the campaign’s Lions submission claimed it prompted 1.3 billion loads of laundry washed cold—saving huge amounts of energy -- in its first year.

When asked for supporting data or an independent audit, P&G's media relations team told DeSmog only that the figures were "carefully substantiated" but declined to provide specific details.