CNN Brasil issued a proper grievance towards advert company DM9 and its shopper Whirlpool after it was revealed that section from one among its broadcasts manipulated utilizing AI appeared in a Cannes Lions Grand Prix-winning case research video.

In response to a CNN Worldwide spokesperson, CNN Brasil took difficulty with the clip however “will take no additional motion” after DM9 publicly apologized for the incident on Wednesday. DM9, based mostly São Paulo, is a part of Omnicom-owned artistic community DDB Worldwide.

The “Environment friendly Method to Pay,” for Whirlpool-owned Consul Home equipment, received the Creative Data Grand Prix on the 2025 Cannes Lions Worldwide Competition of Creativity. For the reason that win, the work has come beneath mounting scrutiny from business insiders, whistleblowers, and competition organizers for its alleged use of AI to control footage from CNN Brasil.

On Friday, June 20, Cannes Lions launched a proper investigation into the entry. It has not revoked the Grand Prix award on the time of publication.

Cannes Lions didn’t reply to a request to remark in time for publication.

Upon studying of video, CNN Brasil contacted each DM9 and Whirlpool outlining {that a} clip used within the case research had been manipulated utilizing AI and featured a journalist who left the community in December 2022. In response to a CNN Worldwide spokesperson, the problem was raised particularly by CNN Brasil, which operates independently beneath license from CNN Worldwide.

DM9 Apologizes

In a LinkedIn put up titled “Nota de Esclarecimento” (which interprets to “Assertion of Clarification” in English), DM9 acknowledged “a collection of errors” within the manufacturing and submission of the case video.

In a press release shared with ADWEEK by DDB, co-president and chief artistic officer Icaro Doria assumed full accountability and emphasised that the shopper, Consul, had “no involvement in anyway within the errors.”

“Success isn’t just the results of expertise and creativity, but in addition of how we work and have interaction with others, grounded in a stable dedication to ethics and integrity,” wrote Pipo Calazans, co-president of DM9.

The company mentioned it’s implementing new safeguards, together with reinforcing inside processes and forming an AI Ethics Committee comprising exterior and impartial members to supervise its accountable use.

Cannes Lions’ Historical past of Controversy

The DM9 case research isn’t the primary time a Cannes Lions-winning marketing campaign has unraveled beneath scrutiny.

In 2010, Cannes disqualified a Grand Prix-winning campaign from Ogilvy Mexico for Scrabble simply 45 minutes earlier than the ceremony, after it was revealed the work had been beforehand entered in 2008—a violation of the competitors’s guidelines.

In 2016, Gray Group Singapore returned a Bronze Lion for its “I Sea” app after critics revealed that the app—which claimed to assist customers spot refugees in misery through reside satellite tv for pc feeds—didn’t really work. It was pulled from the App Retailer, and Gray’s charity accomplice, MOAS (Migrant Offshore Assist Station), publicly distanced itself from the marketing campaign.