Dive Brief:

• Two ad-production trade groups —​ Association of Independent Commercial Producers and the Association of Independent Creative Editors —​ issued letters to candy maker Mars' CMO about its recent decision to switch to a 120-day payment cycle. 
• According to the letters, the longer payment cycle could financially ruin agencies and production companies hired to produce Mars' ads. 
• Dollars typically run from marketers to agencies and then to production companies, but production employees' union rules require that each member be paid within a certain time frame —​ meaning the agencies and production companies have to come up with cash regardless. 

Dive Insight: 

The longer pay cycle does seem absur when viewed as AICE Executive Director Rachelle Madden put it in an email to AdAge, writing that it "ultimately boils down to a large multi-billion dollar corporation leaning on independent small businesses for interest-free loans and that's just absurd." Other than putting off payment, it doesn't seem clear why companies like Mars are extending payment cycles.