‘Fearless Girl’ Kills It in France

The ad agencies that reminded America to feel super bad about itself during the Super Bowl, joined with their worldwide counterparts in Cannes for a chance to compliment each other’s choice of suits. The ceremony is known as the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. That reads slightly more authentic as a business expense on the Schedule C than going to France to get Perrier and chlamydia.

A Lion award is considered the highest achievement in the field of advertising. At least according to the people who give out the Lion awards. According to the Cannes tourist bureau, it’s a chance to keep the tranny hookers rolling in plush an extra month after the Cannes film festival ends.

McCann NY took home several dozen “Lions” for the Fearless Girl statue near Wall Street facing the bull. If you didn’t know this was an advertising campaign, welcome to the club. State Street Global Advisors paid McCann to come up with a statement supporting gender diversity in the workplace. Less money than actually hiring chicks and watching them try to count numbers. The statue quickly became a symbol for the Women’s March movement and a stopgap in cheap idol worship until Wonder Woman could be released.

Mad Men have come a long way since the days of Don Draper. Largely by removing every single thing that was fun in the world of advertising and adding several global award shows to honor the remaining stale chaff.

“We came to Cannes thrilled that Fearless Girl had caught the world’s attention and that gender diversity in the corporate world had a visible champion.”

Yes, State Street Global is your gender champion. Or did they mean the statue? Are we clear that’s not a real person?

Many of the Cannes Lion jurors who voted for Fearless Girl noted the “permanence” of the advertising campaign. 

“We may not be here anymore one day, but that thing, that icon, will stay there forever. That’s what we love about it, that longevity.”

So, like a statue?

The jurors insisted that everybody shouldn’t go out and make their own statues, explaining the Fearless Girl was also “timely”, which when combined with “permanence” is truly remarkable. Or, again, like all statues.

This probably sounds more applause worthy when uttered aloud in French. In English it has a heavy tinge of ESPN’s justification for Caitlyn Jenner winning the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Step one, figure out how to be politically correct and buzzmaking. Step two, back into an explanation of how the little girl statue deserved the top Lion.

Put on your virtue signaling hat and all of this makes sense. Traveling to the South of France for made up business trips in the summer, even more so.

_{Photo credit: Getty Images}