ARCON Insists on Local Content in Marketing Industry

By Raheem Akingbolu

The Advertising Standards Panel of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), has insisted that Nigeria’s economic recovery effort can only bring the expected result when stakeholders commit themselves to promotion of made-in-Nigeria goods and support the Federal Government’s position on Local Content.

Speaking at a stakeholders forum convened by the Advertising Standards Panel, Director General of ARCON, Dr, Lekan Fadolapo reiterated the council’s commitment to enforcing promotion of local content and harnessing indigenous talent for national development among advertising practitioners operating in Nigeria.

While underscoring the ethical obligation of stakeholders to uphold industry standards, particularly in light of recurring infractions related to the use of models in advertisements, the DG acknowledged the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in advertising while cautioning against its indiscriminate use, citing its implications for employment creation and industry sustainability.

He said, “ARCON will continue to insist on responsible advertising in Nigeria. We also need to stop the capital flight and development of other economies by some Nigerian organisations’ attitude of going out of the country to produce advertisements meant for our market. All commercials to be exposed to Nigerians should be produced in Nigeria. We need to create jobs for the Nigerian youths, help grow and develop the support service sector of the industry and circulate funds within the Nigerian advertising ecosystem. 

Chairman, Advertising Standard Panel (ASP), Mrs. Omowunmi Owodunni, in her keynote lecture advised stakeholders to move away from the space of, ‘I don’t care,’ and move to the space of ‘it’s the law’.

She said it’s only lack of ethics that made stakeholders not comply with the law. She lamented the lack of empirical truth that abound in the industry and advised that for the advertising industry in Nigeria to meet global objectives like FTC in the United States of America, ASA in United Kingdom, and ARB in South Africa, adding that Nigerians must be decent and legal in their approach.

ARCON’s Director of Regulations, Martha Ugbomma Onyebuchi, in her address on vetting processes and procedures pointed out that with the New ARCON Act of 2022, a lot of grey areas in the definition of what constitutes an advertisement has been expanded. She made a poser by asking, “How many practitioners have the Nigerian Code of Advertising document?”