Sterling Bank’s ‘offensive’ Easter advert will be sanctioned -APCON

By Oghale Mafuru

The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, the regulatory agency for advertising in Nigeria is set to institute sanctions against Sterling Bank for the recent advertisement comparing Jesus to “Agege Bread”.
According to a statement signed by the Registrar, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, the advert was exposed without the approval of the statutory panel responsible for vetting advertisement and that it was against the ethical principles guiding advertising practice in the country.
He said: ” The distasteful advertisement was neither submitted nor approved for exposure by the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP), the statutory Panel charged with the responsibility of ensuring that advertisements conform with the prevailing laws of the Federation as well as the code of ethics of Advertising in Nigeria”.
APCON states further, “APCON will take necessary action to ensure that Sterling Bank is sanctioned for the exposure of such offensive advertisement according to law and that no religious belief or faith is ridiculed or any blasphemous advertisement exposed in any guise”.
The advert which compared the resurrection of Jesus Christ with “Agege Bread” received backlash from Nigerians especially christians who referred to the advert as insensitive and malicious.

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