Two Students File Sexual Assault Complaint Against Ad Industry Consultant in Cannes

[Sensitive content: This article mentions sexual assault. Help is available through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.] Two U.S. undergraduate marketing students, *Emma and *Julie, who attended Cannes Lions as part of an educational program, have filed a report with Cannes police accusing a U.S. ad industry contractor of sexual assault. The two women, 20, say the man—who appeared to them to be in his late 30s—not only groped them but also told them they must learn to accept men’s “forwardness” if they want to succeed in the advertising field. They say their encounter happened in the garden of the Carlton Hotel in the early hours of June 20. ADWEEK is using pseudonyms for the women with their permission. We are also aware of their identities, as well as the identity of the man they have accused of sexual assault. Through his lawyer, the man said their account is “entirely false.” The women were prepared to go public with their account but decided not to after each received a letter threatening a lawsuit. One woman received a further communication by post to her home address. The women told ADWEEK they did not have the resources to defend themselves in court. The bigger picture In 2024, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity brought 12,000 creatives, marketers, media staffers, and agency execs to the French Riviera, with more joining around the fringes of the official event without a pass. Students are also becoming a bigger fixture at Cannes, drawn in by programs including Young Lions. Organizers confirmed to ADWEEK that “several hundred” students attend Cannes Lions each year, noting a “steady increase” in attendance since 2020. Days at the event are followed by late-night festivities, with parties, concerts, and experiences taking place along the beaches and hotels that line the city. Amid a whirlwind week of networking and celebrations, festival organizers have been urged to bolster safety measures in recent years, partnering with industry groups such as timeTo to tackle sexual harassment. Emma and Julie’s account follows several women speaking out after their experiences at the 2024 event. These include freelance TV documentary director and partnerships director at Brixton Finishing School, Dagmar Bennett, who wrote in Campaign that a senior male business associate asked her if she would exchange sex for money. Ad industry luminary and president of the Glass jury, Cindy Gallop, also said she saw several instances of men acting in a sexist way when presenting their entries alongside women. Organizers confirmed they could not provide stats related to sexual assault at the festival, relying on incidents reported directly to them for visibility of the issue. A spokesperson referred ADWEEK to the police for such details. The Cannes police did not respond to a request for stats related to sexual assault. Cannes has the highest number of police per capita in France. Cannes Lions did not confirm how much extra policing happens during the event, saying hotel venues were responsible for their own security. Organizers confirmed that Cannes Lions security teams were briefed to intervene, record, and report any offensive or dangerous behavior. Beyond the parameters of the festival, the spokesperson said the Lions team worked closely with the City of Cannes and relevant authorities on safety. Emma and Julie had come to Cannes for class credit, with the aim of strengthening their networking skills. When they first arrived in the crowded lobby of the Carlton around 1 a.m., they were excited to mingle and chat with creatives. Several people at the festival had recommended the venue as a hot late-night networking destination; Emma recalled the Grand Prix Lions trophies on tables as people celebrated their wins. The next day, they would spend four hours at a Cannes police station each filing a statement as part of a sexual assault allegation against the industry contractor, who works for a tech startup that recently received millions in funding and counts major household name corporations among its clients, per its website. 'He came out of nowhere' Shortly after arriving at the Carlton, Emma and Julie went outside to the garden at the rear of the hotel to catch their breath, Emma said. The two recalled speaking to another person for around 10 minutes. When that interaction ended, a man they would later identify as the accused—whom Emma and Julie both described as heavily intoxicated—“came out of nowhere” from behind Julie and grabbed her wrist, Julie recalled to police. “You’re drunk,” Julie told him. “I think so,” he replied. In the garden, the man asked her to spin around, and then again—and then one more time, slower, so he could “get a better look.” The 20-year-old complied, but both women were growing uneasy. Julie took a selfie with the man to record the encounter. Emma also snapped a photo from behind Julie, capturing his face. Both images were reviewed by ADWEEK. Julie tried to get him to leave her alone by becoming more standoffish and deflecting his compliments. Eventually, he grabbed her hand and put it to his chest, she told police. “I balled it up into a fist, but he wouldn’t let go of it. He had his other hand firmly planted around my waist,” she said to ADWEEK. She gently pushed him away. Eventually, according to her police report, the industry contractor grabbed her hands and tried to pull her closer again, placing them low on her hips at the top of her buttocks. As he shifted his body closer to hers, he claimed to be salsa dancing, Julie said. She told him she did not like to dance. When Julie spotted the person she’d been speaking to before, she bolted in his direction, she said. ‘I’ll hit you in the fucking face’ The man then turned his attention to Emma, who had been speaking with someone else, both women said. Emma explained to the man that she and Julie were students and were at Cannes Lions to network. When Emma showed little interest in the conversation, she said, the man told her she had an “attitude” and dismissed her as a “fucking child.” That is when he put his hand on her buttocks, she told police. As she told ADWEEK, “I backed away, and he got more aggressive, telling me to ‘chill out,’ and if I wanted to go somewhere in business I would kind of have to accept men’s forwardness and inappropriateness if I wanted to do well in my career.” A man saying I need to accept sexual assault from men to be able to do well in my career was just crazy to hear. Emma, student Emma found this interaction disheartening. “I want to go into business, and a man saying I need to accept sexual assault from men to be able to do well in my career was just crazy to hear,” she said. When Emma questioned why he was speaking to her like this, she asserts that the man told her: “If you don’t chill out, I’ll hit you in the fucking face.” “I got really scared,” she said. “It froze me.” She says she tried to further de-escalate by apologizing for her behavior, telling the industry contractor she was “just stressed.” The man turned her around and started pulling at her hair, she said. “So I grabbed my hair because I’m confused as to what he’s doing,” she said. “I’m like, ‘don’t pull my hair, please.’" She then recalled the man massaging her shoulders. “Because his hands were so big, they were starting to be around my neck—too forward on my front to be a back massage or shoulder massage, and they started going around my neck,” Emma said. She made eye contact with Julie who came up and told her it was time to go. The man asked for their phone numbers, but Julie persuaded the man to get out his phone and request to connect with her by scanning the QR code on her LinkedIn app instead. The LinkedIn profile revealed his name, and both women recognized him from his profile picture, which also matched the photos of him they had taken earlier that night. On his LinkedIn profile, he listed himself as a director for a tech company. His profile has since been deleted. The tech business told ADWEEK in a statement that the man was not a full-time employee, but a private contractor who had provided consulting services for the business. The statement said that the company did not send the man to Cannes, nor provide any resources for him to attend. “The company was unaware that he may have attended the festival until after the festival’s conclusion,” the statement said. Both women ran out of the Carlton. When they got onto the street, they were crying and struggling to breathe or speak, they said, but they agreed they couldn’t stay silent about what happened. “We were like, ‘We can’t let him get away with it,’” said Julie. “I felt like fish in a barrel.” ‘I’m no longer going to just let this roll off my back’ After leaving, the pair said they contacted an on-site professor, texting him that they “just had an unpleasant and scary experience at the TikTok activation at the Carlton. … It’s not okay AT ALL for an industry professional to behave that way regardless of how intoxicated he is.” The professor met them at the premises and escorted them home. ADWEEK has seen a timestamped screenshot of Julie’s message to the professor. At 10 a.m. that morning, Emma and Julie spoke to the security team at Ascential (the current parent company of Cannes Lions pending its sale to Informa) to file a report. The head of security told the women that the Cannes Lions organization would revoke the man’s delegate pass, the women said. However, they later discovered that the man was not an official pass holder, as the organization confirmed to ADWEEK. Cannes Lions declined to further discuss this case. The two women then went to a Cannes police station and filed their reports against the man. ADWEEK has reviewed both police reports, and an interpreter who accompanied both women to file their statements verified to ADWEEK that the statements, taken in English but memorialized in French, were accurately translated. At the time of writing, the police had passed the case on to French prosecutors but neither woman has received an update on the status of the case. The Cannes police told ADWEEK it was unable to comment, citing privacy laws. A representative from Carlton Hotel owner InterContinental Hotels Group said the company was cooperating with the local police on this case but declined to comment further. Emma and Julie also emailed their allegations to the CEO and director of operations of the business that had contracted the man. In a reply seen by ADWEEK, the director of operations said the business has a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual assault, and that the company would conduct an internal investigation into what happened. The company told ADWEEK in July: “The investigation process is currently active. At this time, [the man’s] consultancy contract has been suspended.” When ADWEEK contacted the company again in August to ask whether the contractor had been terminated, its lawyers stated it had no further comment. Emma and Julie have not heard from the company since June. They hope that in speaking out, they can spur more “safety and accountability” for women and students at the festival. Their reason for going to the police was not just because they felt “grossed out and humiliated,” said Julie. “It was mostly because we didn’t want this to happen to other women.” Cannes Lions pointed to its timeTo partnership and said its team was on site to ensure delegates were “appropriately supported” where needed. Emma and Julie said the encounter with the man happened in view of other people. But no one seemed to notice as everyone was in their own “bubbles.” This has lit a fire under me. I’m no longer going just to let this roll off my back. I’m going to take action. Julie, student And the accused himself seemed unconcerned about the exchange, the women recalled. “We felt the man was very, very comfortable with what he did. This man did not seem ashamed, nor did he feel that people were watching him whatsoever,” Emma said. A Cannes Lions spokesperson said it worked closely with the City of Cannes and relevant authorities to provide a safe environment and a code of conduct for delegates. “This is not the first time I’ve been assaulted. It’s not the first time I’ve been talked about like that, not the first time someone has gotten up in my space,” Julie said. “This has lit a fire under me. I’m no longer going just to let this roll off my back. I’m going to take action.” Both Emma and Julie intend to return next year. They have spoken with organizers and senior industry figures about improving women’s safety at the festival for 2025. Julie had begged to go to Cannes when the opportunity first came up, she said, and won’t let what she experienced at the Carlton dampen her love for the industry and all Cannes Lions represents. If you have a similar experience to share, reach out to Rebecca Stewart confidentially on the encrypted messaging app Signal @rebecca.stewart.03.

Cannes Lions

Two Students File Sexual Assault Complaint Against Ad Industry Consultant in Cannes

The women say the man told them to accept men's 'forwardness' to succeed in marketing

Rebecca Stewart

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