Creative Porn

To the many gallons of ink that have been spilled over the years on the subject of advertising awards, I have just one word to add.

Pornography.

Don’t blush. You know exactly what I’m talking about.

Making ads is in many ways like making love: an intimate act between consenting adults, which frequently (but not always) results in the creation of a new life. And when practiced in the context of a committed client relationship, for the purpose of propagating healthy brands, it’s a beautiful thing.

At a certain point, however, we discover that for all its life-affirming virtue, this act has another, more elemental side: self-gratification.