Transformation of the Loeries - what is your view?
This past week there has been a strong reaction by the ad industry to the speech made by Jabu Mabuza, chairman of the MFSA, at the opening of the Electronic Loerie Awards in which he called on the industry to transform or abandon the Loeries. "It is my point of observation that we have one simple choice, transform or abandon the Loeries. The notion of year after year coming here to celebrate creativity from a single minded exclusive South Africa perspective to the exclusion of the majority of the nation is un-South African and unacceptable. Let's transform or simply put an end to the insult." Read the whole transcript on MarketingWeb. Certain industry leaders and members of the Creative Directors Forum were dismayed at the speech, maintaining that real progress had been made - this was the first year that 50% of the judges were black, several award winners were black and the Loeries recognised ads that were created in a black language. Jabu Mabuza has elaborated further and put his speech in context. "The real issue at hand is that WE as an industry and influential profession have a problem. Not you as advertisers. Or them as marketers. Or those creatives. But us. We. Our problem. And therefore our responsibility to harness our proven powers of creativity, problem solving, strategy and idea generation to find and implement a joint solution. We need an inclusive solution. Not one imposed by one part of our fraternity on another." Read his full response here. Now you have an opportunity to share your views in an open forum. How much has the Loeries transformed? Is Jabu Mabuza's call to transform or abandon the Loeries justified? Some people even mooted the possibility that the CDF could pull out of the Loeries and create a new awards ceremony, independent of the MFSA - is this feasible? And how could transformation be speeded up? Click here to submit your view.