Following the recent open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, the Director General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), has described the advertisers’ body as a manipulative organisation thriving on misinformation and disinformation.
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‎In an exclusive interview with MARKETING EDGE, Dr. Fadolapo made his first formal reaction to the letter, dismissing the allegations and defending ARCON’s ongoing advertising industry reform. Responding to the open letter, the ARCON chief stated emphatically that ADVAN’s letter is riddled with lies and misinformation
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‎”First of all, if you read through ADVAN’s letter to the President, it is full of lies and disinformation with the intention to halt the ongoing industrial reform,” he said.
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‎Dr. Fadolapo further revealed that ADVAN has repeatedly appealed to ARCON on several occasions to suspend its ongoing industrial reforms as a condition to back down on what he described as their antagonistic activities.
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‎The ARCON DG emphasised that most of the issues raised in the letter to the President are already subjects of pending court cases instituted by ADVAN against the regulatory body. “As of today, ADVAN has instituted a series of court cases directly and indirectly against ARCON. All the issues raised in the letter are already part of the case. So, it is so injudicious.”
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‎He questioned the timing and strategy of the open letter, noting, “On one hand, the ADVAN ignored the Hon Minister’s office. You have gone ahead to institute a court case, now that we are approaching adjournment, ADVAN is now writing an open letter on the same issue that they have instituted court cases. That is a manipulation.”
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‎Dr. Fadolapo challenged some of the claims in ADVAN’s letter regarding the size and influence of its membership. ADVAN had stated in the letter that it represents brand owners controlling over 90% of Nigeria’s annual marketing spend, estimated at over N800 billion.
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‎”ADVAN said their members are responsible for 90% of advertising spend claiming that their members spent over N800 billion. I challenge ADVAN to publish the list of their active members. I challenge them to publish their members advertising spent to validate the N800B claim. I am not sure ADVAN has upto list to 10% of the industry spent. ,” he insisted.
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‎The ARCON DG also disputed ADVAN’s claim that advertising spend has dropped sharply due to ARCON’s policies, with some companies exiting the Nigerian market. He dismissed it as calculated disinformation concocted by ADVAN to mislead the general public.
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‎He revealed that the industry ARCON in collaboration with HASG consulted PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), a major multinational professional services network, to research into the industry’s spend and contributions to GDP. He also challenged ADVAN to publish its own source and let the industry compare it with the PWC report. Dr. Fadolapo further challenged ADVAN to substantiate its claims about companies leaving Nigeria.
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‎”ADVAN should publish companies that have left Nigeria because of ARCON’s policy, which simply demands that whoever buys media services should pay promptly and advertisers should use Nigerians to advertise to Nigerians.
ADVAN should publish the list of organisations that left the county because ARCON reform. This is another misinformation and disinformation from ADVAN,” he stated.
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‎When asked about the specific policies ADVAN is opposing, Dr. Fadolapo outlined the core of ARCON’s industry reform agenda that ADVAN is asking us to halt include the use of local talents in advertisement. That their members should be allowed to use foreigners to speak to Nigerians in local commercials. That their members should be allowed to buy media and pay whenever they deem fit. These makes the industry vulnerable
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‎He mentioned that ADVAN’s complaints against ARCON is deliberately designed to derail necessary industry reforms. “The entire thing is just an attempt to blackmail ARCON as well as get public sympathy through their manipulation,” Dr. Fadolapo stated.
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‎Addressing ADVAN’s citation of the 2025 Business Facilitation Act Performance Report, which ranked ARCON last among 69 federal agencies with a score of 3.0%, the DG dismissed the report as biased and orchestrated by ADVAN ally.
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‎”The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) is an ally of ADVAN. It is not shocking and surprising that it scored ARCON 3%. ARCON has had engagement with PEBEC where it was obvious that the PEBEC is not only biased but has made attempt to intervene in ARCON’s oversight responsibility with an intention to decimate ARCON. So the report is part of the overall strategy to blackmail and manipulate opinions against ARCON,” he alleged.
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‎The DG pointed to an alternative performance assessments while advising that those who truly want to access verifiable report on ARCON’s performance which all ministries and agencies can defend should check the Ministry of Information and National Orientation report.
‎Responding to allegations that ARCON excludes ADVAN from policy discussions, Dr. Fadolapo outlined multiple platforms where ADVAN has been invited to participate but either declined or withdrew. “It’s on record that ADVAN voluntarily resigned its membership of Heads of Sectoral Group (HASG). HASG is the highest self-regulated body in the Nigerian advertising industry and ADVAN has been a member. Not only a member, it’s representive chaired the body for several years. But the current leadership withdrew its membership. Now, this is one of the platforms with which ARCON engages,” he explained.
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‎He also noted that ADVAN declined participation in the National Advertising Conference (NAC) and Advertising Industry Colloquium despite seeing some major advertisers who are members of ADVAN at the event.
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‎Dr. Fadolapo further revealed that ADVAN is currently a member of the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP), adding that the advertisers’ body would rather run to the media to say it was not invited than honour an invite from ARCON.
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‎”ADVAN insisted that we should stop the ongoing reform as a way to engage or they will continue to cause crisis and wreck the advertising industry, which is what they are doing,” he stated.
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‎On the constitutionality of ARCON’s Advertising Offences Tribunal, which ADVAN claimed combines the roles of regulator, prosecutor and judge, Dr. Fadolapo pointed to existing court judgments.
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‎”On the tribunal, there are three judgments as of today that uphold the constitutionality of the tribunal. ADVAN’s president has granted several interviews criticising the tribunal and its chairman at different times. Advertising is not the only industry that has tribunal in the ecosystem. There is a tribunal for investment and securities. There is a tribunal for the Competition and Consumer Protection. So, what is so special?” he queried.
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‎Also pointing out the contradiction in ADVAN’s approach, Dr. Fadolapo questioned why the advertisers’ association can’t wait for the court decision instead of running to the media with open letters hoping to manipulate the opinion of the public and stakeholders
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“It is unfortunate that the Are Fatai Odeshile allowed the leadership of ADVAN to involve him in what we consider as manipulative and misinformation. ADVAN board of trustees which should function as a body of elders, chose to bypass ARCON and its supervisory ministry to publish what is not only inaccurate but full of lies. These publications, which we consider misleading, reflect poorly on the entire leadership of ADVAN. This approach is truly regrettable,” he stated.