Super Jury brings the hammer down on the Abbys controversy

MUMBAI: As the winds of controversy blow through the Indian ad land post the 2013 Abbys Awards, the Super Jury constituted by the Awards Governing Council (AGC) has decided that all the awards given will stand.

The decision has been made with the intent of maintaining the sanctity of the Abby awards. The Super Jury ruled that enough time had been provided between shortlisting of entries and the announcement of the winners for any party to raise objections/concerns. As a result, any speculation after the Abby Awards/Goafest will not be entertained.

It also declared that the awards that had been rescinded due to similar complaints for DHL (agency BBDO Proximity) and Electrolux (agency DDB Mudra Group) will be reinstated.

The AGC has also noted that for the future rules pertaining to reviews will be further clarified and strictly adhered to.

The Super Jury comprised of Agnello Dias, Carlton D‘silva, Josy Paul, K S Chakravarthy, Nitish Tiwari, Piyush Panjwani, Prasoon Joshi, Prashant Kalyankar, Rakshin Patel and Sonal Dabral. The decision was taken following a meeting on 23 April.

This year, the creative Abbys became a hotspot for controversies with agencies dropping out, scam ads being exposed and last minute requests to withdraw entries, even after the awards were announced. Many believe that Abbys 2013 opened up Pandora‘s Box for the ad industry with issues of scam ads, client-agency communication, creative liberty, and plagiarism coming to the fore.

One would only hope that this is the end of the matter on awards this year, but only time will tell.