the problem would be people exchanging merit or trading it, probably not about the art or quality of the posts
isn't it a common ground that quality art/posts should receive merit?
seems like this is the reason for the merit system to exist
The merit exchange problem exist before art contest happen, but since we're not really strict anymore about merit exchange so they're not getting red tag. Of course it depends on case by case, if someone can proving they've cheating on campaign they'll got red tag.
People meriting art because of hardwork, respect etc, just like how people meriting post because of the hardwork, quality etc. If meriting art or memes is wrong, why not creating a topic in Reputation instead?