In a decisive move to maintain the credibility of what is considered the world’s most prestigious creative awards, Cannes Lions has unveiled a new framework of integrity standards, set to take effect from 2026.
The five-tiered integrity framework introduces stringent standards around authorship, fact-checking, AI use, misrepresentation consequences, and governance transparency. These include mandatory entry approvals by senior brand leaders, a hybrid manual-AI verification process, clear AI disclosure rules, and the formation of an independent Integrity Council.
Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmakar, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India, welcome the proposed 2026 Cannes Lions framework. “A big factor that goes beyond the jury room is the establishing of the independent ‘Integrity Council’ made up of legal, ethical, and industry experts. This body seems like an independent Supreme Court of sorts, where entrants will have the right to respond and appeal. The awards that emerge through this degree of filtration will certainly not raise doubts about the worthiness of the winners,” they convey.
Kalpesh Patankar, Group CCO, VML, also voices strong support for the move to safeguard creativity. “It was needed and kudos to the Lions team for stepping up and doing what needed to be done, in order to hold the industry to the highest of standards and keep the bar on creativity raised by preserving its integrity,” he states.
The urgency of these reforms became clear after the 2025 Cannes Lions festival, where a major controversy emerged around Brazilian agency DM9. The agency’s Grand Prix-winning work ‘Efficient Way to Pay’ for Consul was withdrawn after allegations surfaced that AI-generated and altered content was used in the case film to misrepresent actual campaign results. Cannes organisers said this violated their rules of honesty and accuracy, damaging jury trust. DM9 later withdrew two more entries—‘Plastic Blood’ for OKA Biotech and ‘Gold = Death’ for Urihi Yanomami—and Icaro Doria, the agency’s Chief Creative Officer and Co-President, stepped down. He accepted responsibility and admitted that there were several mistakes in the entry. Doria had also served as the jury president for this year’s Print & Publishing Lions category.
The incident created an uproar, especially as Brazil had just been named ‘Creative Country of the Year 2025’—making the scandal both ironic and reputationally damaging on a national scale. The fallout raised difficult questions about creative ethics and oversight mechanisms at international award shows.
The backlash also reached India, when Britannia and the creative agency Talented, faced significant flak over their sustainability-themed campaign, ‘Nature Shapes Britannia’. Cannes juror and ad critic Polina Zabrodskaya accused the campaign of ‘performative greenwashing’ in a widely read Substack article. The controversy centred on claims that the brand’s environmental messaging did not reflect its actual practices.
Britannia and Talented responded with a joint statement that positioned the campaign as an early but sincere effort in their sustainability journey, citing their expanded reporting boundary and continued resource efficiency despite increased production scale.
The statement read as below:
“At Britannia, we always value insights from experts, and constructive criticism is crucial in helping us grow and align better with the values we wish to uphold. As an organisation, we are at the nascent stage of our sustainability journey. Our intent with this campaign was to share with our consumers that we are taking deliberate, albeit small steps toward a more sustainable future. While we understand that we are far from being a benchmark in sustainability, our goal is to be transparent about our progress and inspire collective action.”
Recognising the potential long-term damage such controversies could inflict on both agency and national reputations, Cannes Lions’ new framework is an attempt to reset industry norms and expectations.
Meanwhile, FCB India was also involved in a controversy at Cannes Lions 2025 over its Grand Prix-winning ‘Lucky Yatra’ campaign for Indian Railways. The core of the controversy revolved around allegations that the campaign had ‘barely run in reality’ and that its real-world impact, or even its full execution, was questionable. Industry observers publicly questioned the campaign’s legitimacy, suggesting it was possibly a ‘scam’ and claiming it was discontinued almost immediately after launch, lasting only around three months and stopping just before Cannes Lions due to poor response.
Team IMPACT reached out to both FCB India and Talented Agency for their response to the new framework, but both declined to comment.
The new Cannes Lions integrity framework is intended to prevent such controversies by setting clearer standards for what constitutes ethical, accurate, and real creative work.
Aalap Desai, Founder of Tgthr — the youngest Indian agency to win a Cannes Lion, sees this as a much-needed correction. He adds that the most significant impact of the new standards will be on how campaign results are presented and verified. “The biggest impact this will have will be on the results section. The letters and the ban will make sure that case study claims are cleaner,” he says. However, he believes the core spirit of Cannes remains intact. “So many of us skip the result section when we are watching winning cases but remember a beautiful idea for years. That’s what the Lions are for,” he says.
According to Azazul Haque, Group Chief Creative Officer, Creativeland Asia, it’s important for Cannes to clarify whether they’re awarding creativity, effectiveness, or work that truly helps brands. He believes that over time, the criteria seem to have blurred. “Initially, Cannes was creativity-first, which made some brands hesitant to participate. Later, they leaned toward brand-first work for revenue, which further blurred the line,” he explains. He also flags the presence of regional bias, “Work from countries like India or Brazil often gets recognised only when it fits a particular narrative. To truly fix this, the judging approach itself must change, not just the written framework.”
Abhik Santara, Director and CEO, ^atom network and Founding Partner at By The Network, is more sceptical of the update’s true impact. “This new integrity framework isn’t exactly a seismic shift. It feels more like the same playbook with a shinier cover,” he says. He warns that without strict and consistent enforcement, the measures could be little more than ‘window dressing.’ Still, he acknowledges it can serve as a positive push, “If anything, this framework should be seen as a tailwind; it is a push for all of us to play harder, smarter and cleaner.”
Rajadhyaksha and Karmakar believe the majority of the industry still upholds integrity. “Nothing substitutes the feeling of winning fairly on brilliant work that actually ran with utmost client approval and partnership. It is a lot like the more stringent scrutiny that came into Cricket after the whole wave of match-fixing controversies in the past. The sport still thrived and grew despite the new stringent measures, because the majority of teams loved the sport enough to play fairly and win. Just like that, our industry too has a majority that wants to play and win fairly,” they add.
The framework has triggered fresh debate about how it will reshape the awards ecosystem. Will it deter participation, or will it spark a higher standard of competition?
Patankar believes the latter. “I personally don’t think it will affect the will to enter. We are a creative industry that thrives on pushing the benchmark and going beyond what is capable. Which is why, I believe that is exactly what we will do.” He sees the move as an invitation for agencies to not just win awards—but to do so with complete transparency and ethical soundness.
A senior advertising agency head, speaking anonymously, echoed the importance of the timing: “The last few weeks have been an egg on the face of the Indian advertising ecosystem because of allegations and fraudulent campaigns. Such things kill the aspirations of young advertising professionals to work and dream big in the ecosystem,” he says.
Haque says that even before this framework, his team has always ensured that any work submitted under his supervision—whether at his former organisations or now at his current one, was never created solely for awards. “We don’t create superficial entries like mock hoardings that scream ‘award bait.’ We only enter mainstream work that solves real marketing problems and delivers measurable effectiveness,”
he adds.
Experts believe that it is essential to establish ethical boundaries that align with both industry expectations and their own values. These internal guidelines are often aimed at maintaining authenticity, avoiding manipulation, and ensuring transparency in how AI-generated content is integrated.
Abhijat Bharadwaj, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative, says that AI is an important technology in today’s times and reduces turnaround times and multiplies output. “Since ethical boundaries must be respected, we have guardrails in place so it is not used to misrepresent facts or infringe copyrights or hurt sentiments,”
he says.
Santara also points out that entering Cannes is a long-term strategic process—not a casual decision. “It’s a year-round engineering that shapes teams, budgets, efforts and influence. With entry numbers down 38% since their peak in 2016, there’s simply no room for shortcuts,” he adds. He’s unconvinced that the new rules will dramatically shrink the competition. “It might make a few brands and agencies think twice before bending the truth, but in the end, it will only sharpen our collective edge. And that’s how it should be,” he says.
As the advertising industry evolves, creative excellence is no longer judged on craft and innovation alone. Responsibility—both ethical and social is increasingly emerging as a defining benchmark. When asked whether creative responsibility is becoming central to how the industry recognises great work, Bharadwaj points to a clear shift already underway. He notes the growing presence of clients in jury rooms and a heightened focus on work that delivers real effectiveness.
“We are in the business of creative problem-solving. It has to solve problems, not whitewash reality,” he adds.
