Nameless blogger bile hurts

BY day they create ads featuring gambolling puppies, smiling children and impossibly beautiful women. By night they post angry, bile-filled messages attacking the work of their peers, slandering their work colleagues and abusing their employers, all under the cloak of anonymity provided by the world of the blog.

BY day they create ads featuring gambolling puppies, smiling children and impossibly beautiful women. By night they post angry, bile-filled messages attacking the work of their peers, slandering their work colleagues and abusing their employers, all under the cloak of anonymity provided by the world of the blog.

If you want an inside peek into the world of advertising, a trip to the Campaign Brief blog (http://campaignbrief.blogspot.com) will provide hours of entertainment.

The blog has emerged as the cyber-lounge where advertising types gather to vent their spleen.

This week, though, one of adland's most regarded creative directors did his own version of Peter Finch's line from the movie Network, screaming: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more."

In an unprecedented step, Saatchi & Saatchi executive creative director David "Nobby" Nobay unleashed a stream of invective on the blog, attacking posters for hiding behind anonymous name tags.

"The blog celebrates cowardice and, worse still, positively encourages bitchiness," Nobay wrote. "I question how this ultimately makes our industry a smarter place to work. Worse still, it opens the door to targeted, professional sabotage. Don't like the look of the competition at a particular agency? Forget the boring, old-fashioned method of trying to out-write and out-think them by penning a better ad. No, these days all you have to do is seed the notion on the blog that the competition's latest ad is a scam and leave the rest to the good online townspeople of Salem."

In recent weeks traffic to the CB blog has reached record levels, fuelled in part by the amazing events in Melbourne where the revolving doors at George Patterson Y&R and Clemenger have been working overtime.

A quick perusal of comments that followed news reports by Campaign Brief editor Michael Lynch (himself something of an advertising industry legend) reveal hundreds of angry posts attacking agency executives and creative directors, as well as one rather good recipe for spaghetti.

Advertising Federation of Australia chairman Russel Howcroft, about to join Patts in Melbourne as managing director, was dubbed "Whycroft" and "Hovercraft" by detractors. Others have fared worse.

Less than a handful of those posting did so under an identifiable name.

Sean Cummins, founder of Cummins&Partners in Melbourne, has been on the receiving end of comments. "The Campaign Brief blog has been one of the worst things I have ever seen in the industry," he says. "It is bilious, it is slanderous and it is designed to protect the wrong people.

"I have had disgusting things written about me. The words have stung. The assertions have been wild and varied ... and more importantly they were designed to hurt. And they have. They have hurt me deeply and have made me less trusting and more guarded than ever."

While the rise of an informed community is a good thing, the tone of many submissions to the blog range from vicious to puerile. Many of those posting are behaving like small children who have just discovered the impact of uttering a profanity.

And similar to those same underdeveloped urchins, they think they can't be seen. As individuals they can't, but collectively they are very much on show. Sadly, as the children play their pointless little online games, they are undermining an industry struggling to present itself in a more professional light.

AFA executive director Lesley Brydon says she is concerned about the direction the blog has taken.

"The Campaign Brief blog has the potential to be a great melting pot of ideas and inspiration," Brydon says. "Unfortunately, it has been hijacked by the banal and mindless comments of anonymous contributors.

"It is heartbreaking to see this from people who have the privilege of working in one of the world's great industries. And frightening to think it might be read by clients."

Some may think it is all a bit of harmless fun, but others are clearly advancing their own agendas. On several occasions Lynch has had to edit or remove posts. Nobay has banned his staff from going to the site during work hours.

An anonymous opinion is a worthless one. The kiddies may be giggling at their smutty ripostes, but they have little sense of the damage they are doing to the industry.

Listen up, kids; it's time to grow up.