Media agency of the year stripped of title

Fortune Promoseven Doha has been stripped of the Agency of the Year title it won at last month's Dubai Lynx Awards ceremony following a controversy over the legitimacy and cultural sensitivity of its entries. The organisers said the award was rescinded after they found that several of the agency's submissions did not meet the entry criteria - which include the requirement that works submitted must be approved by clients. "Even before the awards night we had withdrawn a number of pieces of work from the competition but subsequently our investigation has found other pieces that were presented to the jury infringed on our requirement that all work presented must represent the client who approved it," Philip Thomas, the chief executive of Dubai Lynx, said on Wednesday night. Fortune Promoseven's corporate office released a statement in response to the news, saying it supported the spirit in which the decision was made and that there were "no shortcuts to stardom". "While we acknowledge the action by Lynx, we are continuing our internal investigations and we are taking strong punitive action against anyone who was in contempt of our reputation and our standards," the statement read. "We are also definitely sure that this issue was personally motivated and was outside the framework of our internal rules, fundamental principles and agency beliefs." The award withdrawal follows a joint statement by the Dubai Lynx organisers and Samsung disowning the FP7 Doha work that appeared in a Lebanese newspaper last week and was judged to be culturally insensitive. "At no time was Samsung Electronics aware of these advertisements and the company has not approved or commissioned FP7 to create any advertising campaigns," said Sunny Hwang, the president of Samsung Electronics Levant. The statement went on to say that Samsung had contacted the Dubai Lynx Awards organisers to alert them to the issue, which resulted in an investigation. Rehana Aboulhosn, a Samsung spokeswoman, said the company supported the Lynx decision. "It is disappointing when anything like this occurs and brings the industry into disrepute," Ms Aboulhosn said. "As a company we have faith in Dubai Lynx to take the required measures to ensure that something like this does not occur in the future." The decision to strip FP7 Doha of its latest Lynx honour is a blow to one of the fastest-rising advertising agencies in the Gulf. The company's creative department offices in Doha are lined with statues of previous Dubai Lynx awards, and it had been recognised as an agency to watch after its strong performance at the awards last year. Its managing director's email signature boasts that the company is "the most-awarded" in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Lynx organisers hope that, in moving quickly, they can minimise the controversy hurting the reputation of the fledgling awards. "In taking such swift action, the Lynx organisers have demonstrated their understanding that in order to fulfil the purpose of incentivising and rewarding creative excellence in the region, Lynx must safeguard compliance with the conditions of eligibility," said Lance de Masi, the president of the UAE chapter of the International Advertising Association, which sponsored the awards. "To do otherwise would be to undermine credibility." khagey@thenational.ae