Cannes Lions withdraws Amnesty France Bronze Lion

LONDON: Cannes Lions today, Wednesday, 3 September 2008, withdrew the Bronze Press Lion awarded to TBWA\Paris for Amnesty France on grounds of ineligibility.

The significant debate which this campaign fuelled required the organisers to investigate the entry and it was ascertained that the entry did not appear in media between the required deadline of 1 March 2007 and 30 April 2008 and so is ineligible. TBWA, which have supplied all relevant material requested, has concurred with the festival that this is the correct course of action.

Commenting on the withdrawal, Terry Savage, chairman of the festival, said "Whilst it is not our policy to discuss specific cases, if we have doubts about a specific entry for whatever reason we will fully investigate the matter to its conclusion. To be clear, some ads were withdrawn during the judging process whilst other entries are going through a similar checking process. It is important for the advertising and the awards industry that entries made comply fully with the rules and spirit of the Festival."