Despite many people in advertising talking up the merits of crowd sourcing, I've been on the fence about it.

The inherent problem with most crowd sourcing models is the potential for abuse. Numerous industry trade pubs, including AdAge, claim that 200,000 people have lost their jobs in advertising since 2008. Some are now working for next to nothing. Willingly? Yes, but the point remains the same. In order to pay bills and feed their families, most people are willing to do anything.

One of the 'victimizers' is purportedly the much touted crowd sourcing agency, 'Victors and Spoils.'

Adscam, a blog by advertising and creative consultant, George Parker, claims:

Just got an email from an AdScammer showing how he was contacted by the f@#*ing  “Agency of the Future” asking if he wanted to "throw down" and come up with some ideas… Here's a quote from the V&S email:

"We’re stoked about this project. This one’s big time. So we’ll need some big time ideas. Campaign ideas. 10 of them, in fact, from each of you who wants to throw down. The opportunity is for a national package good brand. It’s in every grocery store you’ve ever been in. It’s not new, it’s older. Re-invigoration is the key here.
We’re looking for those big, media-spanning, cross-platforming, brand-transforming kinds of ideas. Ideas that from under which TV, digital, in-store, and new revenue-stream types of pieces naturally fall. 10 big ideas gets you $750 bucks. If you move on there’s potential for $1000 more for you."

As the AdScammer puts it so well… 10 ideas for (possibly) $750 ( i hope in US ) !!! how can anyone refuse? So to put this in perspective, you work for a few days, drain your brain and maybe get $750 and move onto the next round and maybe get $1000… All involving a few weeks work (presumably) … unemployment pays $430 a week and if i am unemployed and DO NOTHING, i get $1290 for 3 weeks… No maybe… Hmmmmmm … tough choice.

If this is true, it's a nasty bit of work. Perhaps more unethical than the off-shore labour practices of many large manufacturers. Why? Because this sort of cheap labour sourcing is being done right here in North America. Sure, it's the unemployed/freelancer's choice. None-the-less, it's also the agency taking full advantage and profiting from unfortunate circumstances.