Cindy Gallop slams Cannes Glass Lions entrants for sexist behavior

Cindy Gallop, president of the Glass Lions jury at Cannes, said Friday that several individuals who presented their work to the jury this week exhibited sexist behavior while doing so—and that the jury had taken the extraordinary step of reaching out to those entrants later to express their displeasure. At a press conference in the Palais to discuss this year’s Glass winners, Gallop said there were several instances of men acting in a sexist way when presenting with a woman. This included “the man talking over the woman, the man physically blocking the woman with his body while presenting, using the woman as a prop,” said Gallop, who founded the sextech company MakeLoveNotPorn in 2009. The jury, comprised of nine women and one man, was “very unhappy” about the behavior, Gallop said. She didn’t identify which entrants’ behavior was troubling. Seventeen teams made presentations to the Glass jury this week. The Glass Lions was created in 2015 to honor advertising that advances gender equality. Cannes Lions coverage See all of the Grand Prix winners here Top 5 Grand Prix campaigns One juror, who was particularly disturbed by the behavior, volunteered to reach out to the entrants later and express the jury’s displeasure, Gallop added. She did not name the juror who did so. “That feedback is in the process of being given and responded to,” Gallop said. Gallop said the entrants were not penalized for their behavior. “We awarded entries on merit alone,” she said. She said the experience revealed the ongoing sexism in the industry, which was particularly galling given the purpose of the Glass Lions. “It indicated that all of the creative work that our industry does to drive gender equality is not being replicated in terms of the way this industry actually operates,” she said. “And it made us question the process that had gone into and operated behind that work.” This is the 10th anniversary of the Glass Lions. Gallop, who chaired the original jury almost 10 years ago, said it was disappointing to witness the lack of progress within the industry on the issue. “Ten years ago ... I said to my industry, I want you to take a long hard look at yourself, at your agency, at your holding company, at your creative department, at your team, and ask yourself, ‘Would we award ourselves the Glass Lion?’” she said. “Ten years later, based both on what we saw [at the presentations], and to be frank, what we have heard going on [elsewhere] at this festival still today, we are not seeing gender equality being bought into by our industry as a whole.” The festival did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cannes Lions coverage See all of the Grand Prix winners here Top 5 Grand Prix campaigns

Cindy Gallop slams Cannes Glass Lions entrants for sexist behavior

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