"I hope it's the end of it, quite frankly," said Sean Fitzpatrick, vice chairman and chief creative officer of McCann-Erickson U.S.A. and a multiple Clio winner. "It was starting to represent the bad things in our business: Make 'em laugh, and make a run for it, and never mind being effective."

What the Clios do is "to tap into all of our worst instincts," said Richard Costello, president of TBWA Advertising. "Maybe this will wake up the industry to this award-show nonsense, because it's crazy."

The Clios contretemps comes squarely amid the industry's annual award season of late spring and early summer: The Andys, the Addys, the Effies, the Silver Anvils, the Golden Lions. The Clios, which have been presented since 1960, have been owned for the last decade or so by Bill Evans, a flamboyant showman who often appears at the annual presentations dressed in white tie and tails. Steep Entry Fees

Advertising agencies pay for every transaction associated with the Clios, as they do for the scores of award shows created after the Clios became a benchmark for creative achievement. There are steep entry fees to submit work for consideration. This year, they were $75 for a print or radio campaign and $95 for a television campaign. There are tickets to be bought to attend the two presentations held each year -- $125 each for the print and radio ceremony Thursday, $175 for the television ceremony, scheduled for Monday at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center.

There are other charges, like a fee for each extra Oscar-like statuette an agency wants if more than one person contributed to a Clio-winning campaign. And there is revenue from "road show" Clio presentations held worldwide and a Clio television special broadcast on the Fox Network. It adds up to what Mr. Costello called a "money-making operation."

"Bill Evans was the most scorned, yet envied, man," Mr. Costello added. "He knew nothing about advertising, but he tapped into it."

Yet in the last week, advertising executives were calling reporters to describe what they said were unusual problems with Clio arrangements. The executives said they could not obtain tickets for the shows. The trade publication Backstage Shoot reported in its June 14 issue that almost every member of the Clio staff had resigned and that suppliers to this year's presentations said they were owed at least $175,000 for services ranging from catering to rent.