IMC players charged to observe responsible advertising practise

By Amechi Obiakpu

Stakeholders in the advertising space have been charged to observe responsible advertising practise, which ultimately will ensure the survival of the advertising business in the country.

They made the call at the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) Stakeholders’ Forum held on Thursday at Sheba Event Centre, Ikeja Lagos.

The forum organised by ASP, a statutory organ of ARCON was with the theme:  “Promoting Responsible Advertising in Nigeria,” and aimed at addressing some of the unhealthy practise in the profession with the view to strengthen the industry.

Speaking during the panel session, Yinka Adebayo, a Group Executive Director at Omnicom Media Group, said the human nature tends to always want to go against the law but when there is punitive measure it tends to deter people.

“For me as a person, I have since taken the position not to run contrary to the law because this is a business I love and practise and it behoves on me as a fellow to practise it right understanding what the law says. That is why any advert material we associate ourselves with as buying agency, one of the questions we ask is if the material has been vetted and approved to be exposed,” he said.

On his part, Emmanuel Agu, a marketing expert advised every stakeholder and agency to practise self regulation by vetting their creatives in-house before sending it to ARCON for vetting.

He believes that, such practise will help reduce some of the tendencies that makes creatives run foul of the law. But, he added that has to start with all the agencies having the AISoP guidelines and also read them.

“When we regulate ourselves first, we take ourselves from the mulky water of ARCON regulation which begins with all of us having the AISoP guidelines and reading it to understand every aspect of the law,” he added.

In her presentation on “Ethical advertising practice: Things to avoid in marketing communications, Omowunmi Owodunni, ASP Chairperson, said ethical advertising practise is about doing the right thing especially as it falls within the law.

According to her, advertising is a business which has laws guiding it anywhere in the world. And the laws have to be respected.

“Ethical advertising practise is all about doing the right thing. It is a choice we all make which is actually supposed to be a way of life and not what we do because we are forced to. And right here in Nigeria even if the law tells us what to do, we still don’t do it,” she noted, adding that when we flout the law, we are affecting something whether we like it or not.

In his earlier presentation, the Director General of ARCON, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo said the current sweeping reforms in advertising are not to strangulate the industry but to avoid massive casualties in future.

He noted that, the gathering was necessary to discuss responsible advertising as regards statutory regulations to avoid security challenges that could arise out of irresponsible communications.