Advert industry reform gets push on account of AAAN

Creative ad industry thrives on imaginative, unique, contemporary and distinctive messages. It must catch attention to make impact on the brand being promoted.

But, when creative ad firms rely on fallacious contemporary information to create believable ad messages, then there is a question mark, not only on the ad firm but on the whole industry.

For instance, it may not be surprising for ad creative firms to churn out messages for salt companies trying to sell their product that bathing with water and salt could take care of Ebola disease. This is because the public holds that erroneous view, but the message questions the credibility of the agency.

This is why the new leadership of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) has jolted itself to give stimulus to advertising reform championed by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). The reform came into effect last year.

The AAAN is convinced that the reform, in spite of criticism trailing some of the provisions, will benefit stakeholders.

Kelechi Nwosu, the new president of AAAN, told BusinessDay recently that the practice of advertising business by unlicensed individuals was a major drawback to the industry. “Obviously, there is a lot of quackery, unlicensed, unregistered agencies. This manifests in the kind of work they put out there. The reform is much more about reliable, efficient and professional people working in the industry,” he said.

According him, the reform is imperative as it is designed to sanitise the industry and checkmate the activities of non-professionals whose jobs are sub-standard.

“What the reform is intended to achieve is to limit the amount of foreign and local unlicensed agencies who are establishing here. What government should realise and which we are pushing to them is when there are unlicensed agencies working with government, they don’t pay tax in the form of payee and corporate tax. If government has made a law as APCON is a government agency, it is therefore time for stakeholders to stamp their authority to ensure that the reforms work,” he said.

But some stakeholders such as Enyinna Abaribe, a senator, George Thorpe, advertising practitioner, among others, have recently found fault in the advertising reform championed by the APCON, especially the areas that placed hurdles on the entry of foreign advertising firms into Nigeria.

George Thorpe, who is the chairman of MediaReach OMD, rubbished the advertising reform as anti-competitive practice, which is not capable of bringing out the best in Nigerian practitioners.

The advertising expert, who shared his views on “Exploding the myths of the advertising and marketing services industry in Nigeria” at Marketing Edge forum recently in Lagos, believed that its harm at the long run would out number its short-term benefits.

“I believe that the clause that places a level of restriction on the practice of advertising and marketing by foreigners in Nigeria is not well defined,” he said.

Daniel Obi