Beattie blasts scam ad perpetrators

Beattie, who headed this year's panel of judges, argued that such ads have become an integral part of the Asian advertising landscape, causing serious detriment to the industry.

"I think it's a cottage industry," said Beattie. "It has become part of the adman's life in Asia. It may be that no one even notices it any more in Asia. A scam ad is someone's hobby, not their job. I can't honestly see how it moves the industry forward."

Beattie believes that scam ads are so common in Asia because clients are, allegedly, less receptive to strong creative ideas.

"The thinking goes: clients are apparently more 'difficult' to get 'creative' work through, so we use these cheat ads to show great work," said Beattie.

"There is a desperation to win awards to get recognition from the US and Europe for work done in Asia."

Fellow ad awards judge Marthinus Strydom, copywriter at BBH Singapore, believes that while the level of scam ads entering awards in Asia may not have changed much, attitudes towards them have.

"It seems more that the attitude towards them has fluctuated," said Strydom.

"(Scam ads are), in my opinion, the result of a bottleneck between agencies and clients. Good work just isn't getting through. So what we end up with is creative spillage in the form of scam ads. I can't justify their existence, but I can certainly sympathise."

Beattie believes that not just the letter but the spirit of the law has to be respected. "(Scam ads) are bloody obvious and that's an insult to the client."