And the winner is…

During an awards ceremony held at the Cinemanova in Brussels, the ‘Campaign for Creativity’ (C4C) came out as the undisputed winner of the Worst EU Lobbying Award 2005.

With over 7000 votes (over 85% of total votes), the ‘Campaign for Creativity’ was denounced as the most deceptive corporate lobby campaign of the year 2005. The ‘Campaign for Creativity’ presents itself as a grass roots campaign for software patents but is in fact run by public affairs consultancy Campbell Gentry in London, with undisclosed financial support from Microsoft and other software multinationals.

In a fax to CEO, ‘Campaign for Creativity’ coordinator Simon Gentry explained he regretted not to be able to attend the award ceremony in Brussels Wednesday evening. Mr. Gentry argued that his busy schedule forces him to concentrate on paying clients, repeating the claim that his work for ‘Campaign for Creativity’ is voluntary and unpaid. Also runner-up European Partners for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) declined the invitation to attend the award ceremony. ExxonMobil never replied. Both ExxonMobil and EPEE have been nominated for their use of deceptive tactics to undermine EU efforts to halt climate change.

The ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Awards 2005 were organised by Corporate Europe Observatory in association with Friends of the Earth Europe, Lobby Control and Spinwatch; four organisations campaigning for an end to secrecy around lobbying in Brussels.