APCON raises alarm over unapproved political ads
The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has raised an alarm over unapproved political advertisements which are in breach of the extant regulations of the council.
The Acting Registrar of APCON, Mrs. Ijedi Iyoha, while reminding sponsors of political campaigns deployed in the various media said it is unlawful to expose, broadcast any advertisements which do not have the approval of APCON.
Iyoha noted that APCON has already observed with dismay, the growing incidences of exposure and broadcast of political advertisements which are in breach of APCON’s laws.
In her words:”For the avoidance of doubt, the purpose of pre-exposure approval by advertising standard panel of APCON is to prevent exposure to the public of advertisements which may misinform, mislead or offend the public, disparage or malign competitors or provoke unwholesome consequences such as violence”
She further pointed out that the extant regulations require that political campaigns are focused on issues and devoid of attack on personalities or disparaging references to opponents. The body therefore warned that henceforth, any advertisement that is exposed without ASP approval will be blanked or stopped from further broadcast or publication without recourse to the advertiser.
Recall that in anticipation of the commencement of the 2019 general election, APCON had late last year organized a forum on the forthcoming 2019 general elections and hate speeches in Abuja where stakeholders discussed critical issues around the management of electioneering campaign communications at the forum on political communication, the stakeholders called for a campaign communications to be fair and truthful enough to aid democratic choice by the electorate and devoid of any traits that could precipitate violent conflicts.
In his paper titled, “Trends and Consequences of Smear Political Campaigns” the Group Managing Director, SO&U Group, Mr. Udeme Ufot said “smear campaigns utilize unverifiable rumors and distortions, half truths and even outright lies. Even when the facts are seen to lack substance, the targets reputation, in most cases, is often already tarnished before the truth is known. Often such targets are typically forced to focus on correcting the false or erroneous impression rather than the real issue.”
He cited that when political campaigns are not issue based, there is a strong tendency to dwell on theatrics, verbal assaults and character assassination.
Contrasting this with more sophisticated environments, where political campaigns often combine the three prong approach of advocacy, contrast and attack, Ufot stressed that “their campaigns are more professionally packaged to associate the candidate with salient issues and subjects the electorate holds dear”.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.