Writers Of Campaign Advertisements Boycott Vetting Process – AAAN

The Association of Advertising Agencies in Nigeria (AAAN) has expressed worries over contents of campaign advertisements that are disseminated to Nigerians, saying the vetting process … Continue reading Writers Of Campaign Advertisements Boycott Vetting Process – AAAN


Kelechi Nwosu AAANThe Association of Advertising Agencies in Nigeria (AAAN) has expressed worries over contents of campaign advertisements that are disseminated to Nigerians, saying the vetting process had not been followed.

The President of the association, Kelechi Nwosu, in an interview with Channels Television on Monday said that the AAAN had, about two weeks ago, sent out a release to media houses, asking the political gladiators to turn down the messaging.

“We are worried and concerned about the nature of the messages that have been going out and we do know that a lot of them did not go through the vetting process of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).

“I do not think that a lot of the messages have been done by our members. We are an association but the regulatory body is APCON.

“I know that Channels Television go through the rule but not all of the media houses, print in particular, go through that process. We have a lot of ads that are going out there that have not gone through that process,” he said.

An Issue Of Regulation

Mr Nwosu said that the association had put intervention mechanisms in place to let the people know that regulations must be followed.

“Anybody who wants to play in this space needs to follow the law.

“We are urging APCON to get on with policing the ads to make sure they go through the normal process.

“Squarely, there is an issue of regulation. If ads go through the vetting process, it rids out the ones that are problematic.

“When a lot of the ads have not gone through the vetting process, you will have ads that will be really offensive,” he stressed.

On how to further ensure that the political advertisements are not riddled in smear contents, he said the media could play an important role in filtering the publication and broadcast of the advertisements.

“A strong choke point is media. It is a nice way to filter. If you come to a media house and you do not have the APCON registration the ads should not be featured.

“The other way is to urge politicians to stop de-marketing and go to the issues. They should keep away from the smear campaign and focus on issues.

“The third one is to urge APCON to keep doing what it should do to retrain these ads from getting to the public,”  Mr Nwosu stressed.