São Paulo-based agency DM9, part of Omnicom’s DDB network, is facing escalating fallout from its now-withdrawn “Efficient Way to Pay” campaign for Consul Appliances, as legal action has been filed in the United States.
State Senator DeAndrea Salvador has lodged a formal complaint in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, naming Omnicom Group, Whirlpool and several of their subsidiaries, including Omnicom’s DDB, as defendants. At issue is the campaign’s use of AI-manipulated segments of her 2018 TED Talk, which were allegedly spliced into the award submission video that initially won Cannes Lions’ coveted Creative Data Grand Prix before the work was pulled from the festival.
According to the complaint, filed on August 20, Salvador’s name, image and likeness were unlawfully manipulated using AI without consent.
The North Carolina lawmaker told Ad Age: “I’ve always viewed myself as an incredibly tough person, but seeing that and having to explain it time and time again is distressing. Having to train my legislative assistant about it … talk to even my grandmother about it … the harm has been done, there are still copies of the video available online.”
The complaint states that upon discovering “the unauthorised use and manipulation of her image, she felt shocked, violated, and deeply unsettled,” resulting in “significant emotional distress.”
Salvador is seeking consequential and compensatory damages for reputational harm and emotional suffering “in an amount to be determined at trial” and “a money judgment in favour of Plaintiff and against Defendants in an amount to be determined at trial.”
B&T contacted Omnicom and DDB, but neither responded prior to publication.
The “Efficient Way to Pay” initiative, initially praised for its socially conscious framing, helping Brazilian families finance energy-efficient appliances through electricity bill savings, has now become a flashpoint in the industry’s ongoing reckoning with AI, intellectual property and authenticity in award entries.
CNN Brasil previously issued a formal complaint against DM9 and Consul’s parent company, Whirlpool, over the doctored use of a journalist’s likeness in the same case study video, but ultimately declined to pursue legal action.
For Salvador, however, the matter goes beyond a single entry video. “I felt it was very important to recognise the damage that was done, drive toward accountability and remain hopeful that this case will protect others from seeing themselves on an international stage in the same way,” she said.
The controversy comes as Salvador has emerged as one of North Carolina’s most prominent lawmakers on AI policy. She has sponsored several bills aimed at regulating digital technologies, including Senate Bill 747 to establish an AI Learning Laboratory, Senate Bill 735 to create an AI Innovation Trust Fund, and Senate Bill 880 to bar AI-generated deepfakes in elections, all of which remain pending in the state’s General Assembly.
The Cannes Lions controversy surrounding DM9 isn’t the only scandal raising eyebrows this year. Another Grand Prix winner, Budweiser’s “One Second Ads” campaign, has been hit with a copyright claim from Sony Music, after the brand and its agency Africa Creative DDB proudly announced they spent “$0 on music rights.”
The campaign, which ran one-second snippets of famous songs on the radio and in audio spots, was built around the claim that you only need a second to recognise a song, and, apparently, that one second is free.
While clever in execution, many argued that there is no “one second rule” when it comes to music and the move drew sharp criticism from creatives and musicians alike for exploiting artists’ work without compensation.
Together, these cases highlight a growing tension: how far can agencies push creative boundaries before crossing into exploitation? And what responsibility do jurors bear in validating work that skirts legal and ethical norms?
