No Mercy / No Malice

Slam Cannes

And the award goes to…

Editor’s Note: No Mercy/No Malice is a column from Professor Scott Galloway, where he shares various reflections on business, tech, and life on his mind each week.

So, the good people at Cannes asked me to evaluate where digital and creative ecosystems collide to spark innovation, and to present awards to the most innovative firms, people, and campaigns. The last sentence is a lie.

Anyways, here are my Slam Cannes Awards for 2018.

Most Innovative Campaign Winner: The GRU’s Weaponization of Facebook

Runner-Up: Apple’s Conscious Uncoupling from Big Tech

The intelligence arm of the Russian Government (GRU) has flipped the most popular person in America into a double agent — Facebook. To be clear, we personify the Four, as it’s a means of distraction for them: “We’re leaning in, curing death, and doing no evil.” Successful tech leaders become synonymous with the empires they build. By putting on a human face, massively powerful behemoths can avoid taxes, destroy jobs, and subterfuge our democracy. Citizens and media outlets fail to recognize these are legal entities with assets and a process for creating stakeholder value…