Agency stripped of Dubai award over unapproved ads

LONDON - The organisers of the Dubai Lynx Awards have stripped FP7 Doha of its agency of the year award after finding numerous ads submitted were not approved by clients, including a Samsung ad featuring Jesus that damaged the company's image.

A total of 18 submissions and the associated seven awards have been withdrawn, along with the trophy for agency of the year, which will now not be awarded to any agency this year.

FP7 Doha's two gold, four silver and one bronze awards were for clients Samsung, Higeen Mouthwash and Nissan.

Philip Thomas, Dubai Lynx CEO, said: "Even before the awards night we had withdrawn a number of pieces of work from the competition but subsequently our investigation has found other pieces that infringed our requirement that all work presented must represent the client who approve it."

The organisers of the following the publication of , in which the legitimacy of the agency's work for Higeen Mouthwash, Samsung and Nissan was questioned.

One of the scam ads depicting Jesus taking a photograph of a group of nuns with the new Samsung SL310W camera caused a scandal in Lebanon.

The work was seen as an attack "against Christian symbols" following its publication in the Al Mostakbal newspaper.

The furore caused considerable damage to Samsung's image in Lebanon and resulted in the company issuing a joint statement with Dubai Lynx denouncing the work. 

It stated: "The company did not commission, develop or approve the publishing of the religiously insensitive advertisements. This advertising campaign was produced and submitted by marketing agency, FP7 Doha, without the knowledge or consent of Samsung Electronics."