But the work reminded some of a 1987 art film called The Way Things Go, which also featured the uncanny cooperation of a bunch of automotive gears and wheels. A W+K spokesperson later drew a distinction “between copying and being inspired by.” In any case, Cog didn’t win—which caused a separate controversy.
2. You can’t sea anything
Snaring a bronze in the promotion and activation category in 2016 was the “I Sea” app, which claimed to let users scour the Mediterranean via satellite to spot refugee-laden vessels fleeing wartorn nations, and report them to authorities.
But when whistleblowers revealed that the app did not have live-image satellite capabilities, Apple yanked it from its app store and Singapore-based Grey for Good gave its award back. A Grey spokesperson told the New York Times that the app was legit, but did have “some satellite issues to work out.”
3. Caught double dipping
In 2010, a mere hour before the honors kicked off, judges yanked the red carpet out from under Ogilvy Mexico’s Grand Prix-winning entry for Scrabble, when it emerged that the lushly lexical print ad had been submitted—and lost—two years before.
