Against the backdrop of the series of reactions following the enactment of the new advertising law, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON, has maintained that it remains focused and committed to its statutory mandate of ensuring strict adherence to ethical standards that promotes equity, fairness and economic growth of the advertising industry and the country.
Speaking in an interview with the media, the Director-General, ARCON, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, stated that he will not be distracted by the trail of reactions to the new advertising law noting that he is committed to the vision to herald a paradigm shift in the industry.
While emphasising that the regulatory body is not regulating to strangulate, the regulator stressed that the series of industry reforms are geared towards stimulating the nation’s economy by repositioning the industry to support local talents and promote global competitiveness.
He said: “Our industry is suffering. The use of local talents is on the decline. Everybody is turning attention to other markets for talents available in the country. We look at our sector and we have seen that we need help. How do we help ourselves? We need to concentrate inward. That is how we can grow our sector. Then we will be able to compete. We want Nigeria to be the hub of advertising in Africa and we want to reduce our linkages to the barest minimum.
“Sit down and look at the multiplier effect of what we are saying. This industry is in trouble and somebody needs to do something before it completely gets out of hand. If we are looking at Nigeria as a market, we need to retreat and ask ourselves ‘what do we need to do well?’ Nigeria is at the receiving end.
Our photography industry as a sector is near collapse. Our modeling sector is near collapse. So, we need to be deliberate. We may not be 100% there but we need to improve our local market”.
According to the ARCON boss, the recent ban on the use of foreign models and voice-Over artistes was implemented to solve the redundancy challenge of the creative sector and to grow the service providers sectors in the advertising value chain.
He stressed the need for advertising campaigns to be in sync with the cultural and religious nuances of the target market to resonate and yield desired outcomes.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
