APCON set to regulate digital advertising
By Ibidunni Banjoko
The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the regulatory agency for advertising business and practice in Nigeria, is planning to regulate digital advertising in order to guide the unlawful advertisement that goes on digital platforms.
Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, the APCON Registrar who revealed this during a programme tagged “Brands ‘n’ U”, organised by Classic 97.3FM, noted that the Council has taken steps to guide against the illegal and indecent advertisement that goes on digital platforms.
Dr. Fadolapo said: “There are three pillars that make advertising business – clients which are called advertisers who are pay the bills; digital agencies which can be strategists, creatives and media buyers, and also digital space owners. These are the people who own the platforms which advertisement is being placed on.
“Our law is not on digital; we are the gatekeepers of advertising, and an offence is committed when an advertisement is posted or broadcast on their platforms without being approved by APCON.”
Stating the difference between traditional media and digital media, the APCON boss said: “Advertisers don’t own traditional media, the owners are always different from advertisers. But there are digital space owners who can also be advertisers. For instance, if a bank owns a website, the website makes the bank a digital media space owner because they have a digital platform; the bank is also an advertiser. If anyone does a graphic work and posts on the platform, it will violate the ethics of the advertising industry.”
Commenting further on the challenges in the industry, Dr. Fadolapo noted: “One of the major challenges we have is capacity building; we are just playing catch up to ensure that we build on capacity. So, we need technology or else we will continue to play catch up.
“The legality of any ad in Nigeria must be derived from APCON. One of the principles of advertising is that advertisement must be legal, decent and honest. APCON’s law will be reviewed, since the digital space was not envisaged when the law was crafted.”
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