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DDB, WWF reeling from fallout over 9/11 ad UPDATE, Friday. In their joint apology for this now-infamous 9/11 ad, DDB Brazil and WWF Brazil mentioned their previous collaborations. Here's a sampling of ads they've done together since 2007. UPDATE, Thursday evening. So, it appears the video version of the print ad was the work of DDB Brazil as well, and was entered into the Cannes festival this year. Meanwhile, over at Adweek.com, Barbara Lippert offers her view of the whole fiasco. UPDATE, Thursday, 1 p.m. ET. The U.S. headquarters of the WWF has just updated its statement to acknowledge that someone at WWF Brazil may have indeed signed off on the 9/11 ad. See the full statement here. UPDATE, Wednesday evening: DDB Brazil posted a statement on its Web site Wednesday, signed by both WWF Brazil and DDB Brazil, claiming shared responsibility for the creation and initial approval of this ad, which has caused a firestorm of controversy since Tuesday morning.   The English version of the statement reads: "WWF Brasil and DDB Brasil would like to jointly express their regret for the unfortunate incident involving the 'Tsunami' ad for World Wildlife Fund Brasil. The ad does not convey either the philosophy of the client or that of its advertising agency. It was created and approved in late 2008, mistakenly, and was solely the result of lack of experience on the part of a few professionals from both parties involved. In no way was it done in bad faith or with disrespect to American suffering. WWF Brasil and DDB Brasil acknowledge that such an ad never should have been made, approved or published. We reiterate our apologies to all those who may have been offended by it. The two entities have worked together for three years to mobilize people, efforts and resources for the good of the environment. A single error should not obscure past successes, nor prevent future ones."   Below is our original blog post from Tuesday morning, plus several updates made since then. — — — — — Just in time for the anniversary of 9/11 comes this tasteless, nightmarish print ad for the World Wildlife Fund, showing dozens of planes headed for lower Manhattan. See a larger version here. The copy reads: "The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it." Unfortunately, respect is the main thing lacking here. Exploiting one tragedy to try to prevent another is just stupid and self-defeating, and will always backfire. Via Advertolog, which credits the ad to DDB Brazil. UPDATE: It appears this ad actually managed to win a merit award for public service at The One Show this year. We spoke to a rep at the U.S. HQ of the WWF in Washington. She said the group "strongly condemns the messaging and the imagery" of the ad, and she added: "We can promise you this ad does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of this organization." WWF further says the ad was "never authorized or approved by any WWF person on the planet" and that the group is investigating the "unauthorized and illegal use of our logo." The group's official statement on the matter can be seen here. UPDATE: DDB Brazil has apologized for the ad, and a rep there tells the New York Daily News that the creative team behind it "is no longer with the agency." UPDATE: We've received an e-mailed statement from DDB Brazil in which the agency, while still apologizing for the ad's creation, claims it was approved for publication by the local branch of the WWF. The statement reads: "The 'Tsunami' ad for World Wildlife Fund Brasil was created by a team at DDB Brasil in December 2008, approved and ran. The team in question is no longer with the Agency. DDB Brasil apologizes to anyone who was offended or affected by the ad. It should never have been made and it does not portray the philosophy of the agency."   We're told the ad ran just once, in a local newspaper in Brazil.   This conflicts with the WWF's statement that it "did not authorize [the ad's] production or publication." Officials at the WWF in Washington tell us they are still looking into the chain of events and wouldn't comment further. If the agency's version of events is true, then the ad is not fake or "scam," the WWF would bear greater responsibility for it, and it would have been eligible for this year's One Show, where it somehow managed to win a merit award. (The ad has since been stripped from the One Show site.)   A video version of the ad (posted below) has also been unearthed. DDB and WWF are denying any involvement in the video. —Posted by Tim Nudd and David Gianatasio

September 1, 2009 in 9/11, Brazil, DDB, Environment, Gianatasio, WWF | Permalink

Comments

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disgusting. There are better ways to showcase how to protect our earth.... banking on tragedies to promote a cause do not receive the most positive ROI possible. Disappointed.

Posted by: Meg | Sep 1, 2009 11:03:15 AM

It is disturbing, however considering the current mental capacity of the average American combined with their greedy self-absorbed personalities, I highly doubt there could be a more effective way to get the message across.

Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 1, 2009 11:23:58 AM

the tsunami was created by an earthquake. how exactly is that supposed to tie into man-made climate change/destruction of the environment?

seems like all they want is the extra press that being outrageous will give them, but all it will do is turn people off.

Posted by: mindtron | Sep 1, 2009 11:29:56 AM

DDB will probably praise the amount of 'viral' coverage this ad is getting right now, but makes me want to totally ignore the point they're trying to make, and generally lose respect for WWF.

It is however a good example of fee-free award-toting advertising wank. No pencil for them!

Posted by: Danny | Sep 1, 2009 11:45:13 AM

Disgusting. I hope WWF gets eaten by a polar bear.

Posted by: Get Out of Our Country | Sep 1, 2009 11:52:24 AM

Insensitive. Send all these planes to the WWF HQ and to DDB Brazil.

Posted by: Pratap Singh | Sep 1, 2009 12:10:42 PM

Nice. But y see first in:

http://www.dabsdesign.com.br/wwf-tsunami-campanhas-inteligentes/

Posted by: Mike | Sep 1, 2009 12:10:47 PM

It's obvious that this agency isn't a NYC based shop. Being DDB Brazil, they probably didn't realize how touchy of a subject this is for most Americans, especially ones from the advertising world (which is pretty well centered around the NY Metropolitan Area).

I agree that exploiting one disaster to draw attention to another is wrong. However, I give them SOME credit for clever art direction. They should just do their research next time and realize how this particular subject hits very close to home for many of us.

I recommend looking at their other ads; some of them are very good. And very visual.

Posted by: Zack Kinslow | Sep 1, 2009 12:11:00 PM

I think the real problem here is the USA BIG EGO. Do right and no one will mess with it. Do it wrong and people won't respect you, worst: they will take your tragedy, make you the bad guy - most of times, you are - and expose it like a target. But 09.11 was a HUMAN tragedy not just an American tragedy... there were dead people from the whole world not just Americans. This AD isn't ethic, I agree, but we all know that USA environment politics neither are.

Posted by: Pedro | Sep 1, 2009 12:29:30 PM

Hot pink, leopard-print spandex pants, bent folding chairs, choreographed mayhem and destruction; these things came from a different time. A time when the WWF was a proud, respectable organization.

Posted by: Neil | Sep 1, 2009 12:55:18 PM

The skyline of lower Manhattan is altered greatly in this ad. Compare it to a photo and you'll see many buildings missing. I wonder why.

Posted by: shedwa | Sep 1, 2009 1:01:35 PM

@Shedwa. This photograph is very old. It's pre-1986. Battery Park City hasn't been built yet along with several buildings on lower Manhattan.

Posted by: MT | Sep 1, 2009 1:06:56 PM

Unbelievable. You know a lot of people died in the holocaust too. Why not use that?

Posted by: Dwight | Sep 1, 2009 1:09:08 PM

Meg, you have got some nerve. I don't know where you're from but to make a blanket statement that Americans are self absorbed and have limited mental capacity shows you to be very small minded. It's not fair to dismiss any population like that. As for this ad, as a New Yorker who walks by the WTC site everyday, it is just disturbingly insensitive. I have donated to the WWF many times and this ad makes me question this organization.

Posted by: Jill | Sep 1, 2009 1:16:43 PM

I didn't think the World Wrestling Federation could sink any lower, but...

Posted by: Greg I. | Sep 1, 2009 1:16:44 PM

I think Jill may need her sight checked since Meg didn't say anything Jill attributed to her...

Posted by: James | Sep 1, 2009 1:22:31 PM

Pedro - shut up. You contradicted your own stupid point. It was a tragedy and a mass murder, US foreign policy aside.

This has nothing to do with US environmental policy and everything to do with an insensitive ad agency that should have known better. "Respecting" the earth isn't going to end goddamn earthquakes.

Posted by: Elisabeth | Sep 1, 2009 1:22:49 PM

Dear Pedro,

Just. Get. Stuffed.

Posted by: gvanderleun | Sep 1, 2009 1:25:34 PM

THIS IS A FAKE AD. A SCAM AD. AND YES, THEY STILL 'WIN' AWARDS.

Can we stop posting these already? It has nothing to do with the real business.

Posted by: T | Sep 1, 2009 1:28:44 PM

WWF has received my last donation

Posted by: john | Sep 1, 2009 1:59:55 PM

Oye Pedro, no mames tanto.
Tienes ni puta idea, y no me importa en lo que piensas de los EEUU...
Tu puta mierda pais no vale ni madres, cierto.
Que hacen por los de mas del mundo?
Ni una cosa.
Cual pais ayudo todos alli despues del terrimoto y las olas y inundaciones?
EEUU.
Que vayas a la verga, marica.

Posted by: Uncle Jefe | Sep 1, 2009 2:08:41 PM

As I have said on other blogs, I've worked with the WWF, and I am calling a fake on this. The ad is completely illogical in comparison to their mission of preservation of earth resources (since when is a hurricane a resource?). And the conceit is a total ripoff on the MTV one several years back. Fake, and one to get DDB Brazil noticed, but not for the right reasons. Hopefully WWF can't recoup some financial damage created by this stir.

Posted by: David | Sep 1, 2009 2:08:52 PM

i think there are a lot of ways to make the point that we stand to lose everything we have if we dont get our act together. unfortunately, because of the lack of sensitivity in the ad and its obvious inflammatory intent, the legitimacy of the message is completely lost.

sigh.

Posted by: caroline | Sep 1, 2009 2:09:09 PM

Wow, WWF. I USED to donate to you, too. But not anymore and will tell others not to as well. One horrible tragedy doesn't "trump" another horrible tragedy. Both of these events are awful and have nothing to do with each other. As a person still hurting from 09/11, I am insulted and hurt by this.

Posted by: JG | Sep 1, 2009 2:12:33 PM

This ad is realistic. It tells it like it is. Look beyond your horizon. Drop your egos and accept it.

Posted by: Grace | Sep 1, 2009 2:35:18 PM

Nevermind 9/11, what about the use of the Tsunami? Is the ad meant to convey "don't pollute or the Planet will rise up and kill you"? M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" was true! Completely inappropriate on all levels.

Posted by: Scott | Sep 1, 2009 2:38:56 PM

THIS AD WAS NOT ENDORSED BY WWF.

Posted by: anonymous | Sep 1, 2009 2:51:29 PM

The Tsunami was caused by an underwater Earthquake and has nothing to do with "environmental preservation." (It doesn't matter how much we clean up our litter or how big our carbon footprints are Earthquakes will still happen naturally.) Not only is the WWF disrespectful to the victims of 9/11 it is disrespectful to the intelligence of anyone who graduated 4th grade.

Posted by: Jim | Sep 1, 2009 2:56:20 PM

this ad was completely uncalled for.

Posted by: EC | Sep 1, 2009 2:56:48 PM

This ad is a fake -- read WWF's news statement. WWF did not create this ad. Someone used their logo without permission.

Posted by: BoBS | Sep 1, 2009 2:57:30 PM

Just off the phone with WWF.US Washington, DC - Until today WWF was NOT aware of the ad. They found out an hour ago about this shocking ad. They are currently working to determine wether or not this is a hoax of some sort. It was NOT created by WWF.US and they STRONGLY CONDEM BOTH THE MESSAGING AND THE IMAGES AND ARE DOING WHAT THEY CAN TO HAVE THIS APPALLING AD removed FROM FURTHER CIRCULATION on behalf of the WWF here in the US and around the world. They promise this ad does not represent thoughts and feelings of people in their organization, WWF.US - As per VP pUblic Relations, Leslie Aun, Washington, DC. The ad parentally originated from the ad agency, DDB Brazil (note no affiliation with WWF.US) It was explained to me, each WWF region acts within an antonymous degree (obviously will be addressed after this disaster). I'm a member of WWF.US as well and couldn't be more appalled... Deep down I knew this had to be rouge in nature. WWF.US isn't PETA, by any measure.

Posted by: bh2o | Sep 1, 2009 3:00:22 PM

"This ad is realistic. It tells it like it is. Look beyond your horizon. Drop your egos and accept it."

Drop your egos.

Like all those victims dropped from the WTC towers?

Does your ego explode like a watermelon at terminal velocity like those people did?

Posted by: N. O'Brain | Sep 1, 2009 3:00:42 PM

As usual, these eco/animal folks have proven themselves to be morally retarded.

Posted by: Daddy-O | Sep 1, 2009 3:01:24 PM

Hey Jill

WWF is not the WorldWide Wrestling Federation is it World Wildlife Fund...

Posted by: Ricki | Sep 1, 2009 3:08:44 PM

Environmentalists did try to blame the tsunami, an event caused by seismic activity, on global warming by using the fallacy of ignorance; "We do not know all the ways global warming affects the Earth, therefore it may have been caused by global warming." Environmentalists suffer from a modern-day version of the witchcraft hysteria of the 17th Century where any unusual or disastrous incident was assumed to be the work of witchcraft.

Posted by: Aaron | Sep 1, 2009 3:16:04 PM

"This ad is realistic. It tells it like it is. Look beyond your horizon. Drop your egos and accept it."

Grace-
A tsunami is a natural event, like an earthquake or a thunder storm. It had no intent. It is an impersonal act.

The terror attacks of 9-11 were orchestrated, man made event designed to murder innocent human beings simply going about their lives.

Are you so morally blind that you cannot see the difference? Are you so insensitive to the suffering of fellow human that you cannot see why this offends and angers?

I'm trying to be rational here, and hoping you can see the difference, but to be honest, I don't have much hope.

What you wrote was purely stupid.

Posted by: Daddy-O | Sep 1, 2009 3:16:27 PM

Whatever you think of the ad, I'm pretty sure it's a hoax.
Let's all not jump to conclusions here.

Posted by: Jan | Sep 1, 2009 3:17:34 PM

It amazes me how so many of you people will be so quick to vilify an innocent company without doing any research into the issue at hand.

Do you all believe everything you see and hear on this internet?

Posted by: Becca | Sep 1, 2009 3:18:43 PM

SCAM ads damage our business, and potentially the brands and agencies they appear made for.

They should be banned from shows, and verified before being posted. And scam ad makers should be penalized.

Posted by: Byob | Sep 1, 2009 3:19:58 PM

"Let's all not jump to conclusions here."

Yes not like we do with man made global warming.

Posted by: RayB | Sep 1, 2009 3:20:46 PM

"They should be banned from shows, and verified before being posted. And scam ad makers should be penalized."

I agree Barry should be penalized for his Obamascare program.

Posted by: RayB | Sep 1, 2009 3:21:55 PM

NO MATTER OTHERS SAY !
WE ALL SEE THAT IS A WWF AD.

It's too late to say "hoax, FAKE, WWF U.S. is strongly condemning this ad".

That's world issue; not USA's point of view.

Posted by: dada | Sep 1, 2009 3:23:45 PM

What disrespect for the families of the victims of both disasters. WWF should absolutely be ashamed of themselves for this. Who the heck do they think they are, PETA?

Posted by: Jeff | Sep 1, 2009 3:23:50 PM

Putting aside the tasteless ad... What does taking care of the planet have to do with Tsunami's? Absolutely nothing. In fact it proves that Mother Nature can kick your ass any time she deems fit and man can't do a thing to stop it.

Posted by: Roux | Sep 1, 2009 3:29:12 PM

I think i have the viral advertising method down to a science:

1. Ask random ad agency to create vile piece of agit-prop
2. Have it submitted for an award
3. Deny, deny, deny

Yay! Ice cream for all.

Posted by: bastiches | Sep 1, 2009 3:29:13 PM

Many people won't read this far down in the Comment section. The title at the top of this page must be changed to reflect the doubt that this is in fact an ad made for and approved by the WWF, until all the facts are in. It's misleading as is.

Posted by: Fan O'Accuracy | Sep 1, 2009 3:36:23 PM

Absolutely remarkable, to think how many people may have been involved with this ad, and no one said a word. This isn't like one of those ads where it was a quick print and shot out. It had to go through higher ups first. Very disappointed with the WWF in this one.

Posted by: Matt | Sep 1, 2009 3:37:15 PM

It's pretty clear that somebody doesn't like America West air lines.
All the planes, save one "Big Red" plane, are America West.

Posted by: Neo | Sep 1, 2009 3:40:45 PM

The folks who died on 9/11 actually made contributions to the modern world.

Can't really say that about tsunami vics.

Posted by: Fred Ralista | Sep 1, 2009 3:45:23 PM

douche bags...then again the HIV capitol of the world doesnt have much to brag about anyway.

Posted by: USA HATES BRAZIL | Sep 1, 2009 3:49:45 PM

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