Are we cultural investors or cultural vampires?

Another Cannes is over. Everyone’s back from the Croisette, still buzzing about the brilliant cultural campaigns that dominated this year’s festival. The work was, naturally, impressive – aesthetics perfectly captured, culture authentically represented, local traditions respectfully celebrated, all rooted in rich insights. We’ve never been better at making culturally-relevant advertising.

But here’s the uncomfortable question nobody’s asking: Are we actually supporting these cultures, or are we just bleeding them dry?

I’d argue that most of the ‘culturally relevant’ work we celebrate is sophisticated extraction. We’re mining Middle Eastern subcultures without giving anything meaningful