Evolutions of Advertising Institutions in Nigeria

Evolutions of Advertising Institutions in Nigeria

Written by Yemi Olakitan

 

        Advertising can be described as a form of commercial mass communication designed to promote the sale of a product or service, or a message on behalf of an institution, organization, or candidate for political office.”  Advertising is as old as mankind. The desire to advertise seems to be the urge of every man. Men and women are born with the desire to let others know what they have to sell or give in order to obtain some personal gain. Therefore advertising is innate.  Advertising has been around for almost 2500 years. In Biblical history, we can safely say that the first advertising began when the serpent advertised the qualities of the forbidden fruit to Eve and she subsequently advertised the same fruit to her husband, Adam. It appears that advertising has been with man for many years, although the strategies of advertising as always been different from culture to culture. The earliest form of advertising in Nigeria could be said to be town crying. Other methods include signs and drawings on caves and mountains.

     In the early days of advertising practice in Nigeria, Advertising was uncoordinated and unregulated. Many advertisers worked very hard to put in place codes of conduct but the law did not back them up. They were merely voluntary and ineffective since there were no laws to back them. Some of these efforts included the establishment of Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria, AAPN and Advertising Council of Nigerian, ACON in 1977. These self-regulatory and voluntary associations could not achieve because the instruments of law did not empower them to regulate advertising at the time. Therefore advertising remained unorganized. The underdeveloped nature is clearly demonstrated because the majority of consumer products and services advertised in Nigeria were of foreign origin and mostly non-essential.  The products advertised often targeted the elites because the Nigerian masses could not afford them.  Financial advertisements were the most dominant products and services of Nigerian origin because they promoted more products and services that the average Nigerian could not afford.

    Nevertheless, advertising soon become very international, since producers and companies try to sell their products on a globalized market in almost every corner of the world. It is therefore not surprising to see a big sign for Coca Cola in third world countries, such as Nigeria.  In the 19th century new technologies were developed and brand-new methods invented. As a result a surplus of production was formed. Warehouses of many factories were overflowing. In this way, it was necessary to create useful advertisements, which would cover all large spaces, utilizing a large variety of mass media sources.

   The federal Government through the advertising practitioners registration Decree number 55.of 1988 established the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON. Former Minister of information and culture, Prince Tony Momoh, officially inaugurated the council in November 14, 1989. This marked the birth of APCON as a principal actor in Nigeria’s advertising scene and also established advertising as a profession.

   Decree 55 of 1988 empowered APCON to regulate and control advertising in all its ramifications. The Council is charged with responsibilities of determining who are advertising practitioners, determining what standards of knowledge and skills such persons needed to attain to become registered as a practitioner and reviewing such standards from time to time, securing the establishment and maintenance of a register of persons entitled to practice as advertising practitioners and the publication from time to time of a list of such persons. APCON was also empowered to conduct examinations in the profession and to award certificates or Diplomas to successful candidates and prescribing fee to be paid in respect of such.

   The APCON decree goes on to define the membership of the council, its powers, its financial positions and relationship with the government It makes ample provision for discipline and defines the rights and privileges of registered person as well as codes of conduct for the practice of advertising in Nigeria. However, the decree was amended in the Decree number 92 of 1992, which in turn was amended by the Advertising Practitioners Council Decree number 116 of 1993.       At the moment, APCON regulates the advertising industry through sectional associations, which are recognized by the council. These sectional associations have played major roles in the development of advertising in Nigeria over the years.

  One of such association is the AAPN, which is a self-regulatory body that was legally incorporated by advertising agencies in the country. It was established in 1972 as an organization that stands for discipline, honest and responsible advertising.  The AAPN has clear-cut aims and objectives, membership guidelines as well as codes that governs its corporate membership. It is however a voluntary association and a good number of agencies operate outside its fold.

   The Advertisers Association of Nigeria was established in October 1992 as a rally point for the big time advertisers in the country. ADVAN aims to bring together advertisers and clients within the Nigerian business community with a view to forming one united fronts in dealing with other interests in the sector. ADVAN has an executive council as well as a secretariat and it is recognized by APCON.

   The Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN is a union of owners of newspapers, magazine and other related publications in Nigeria. The association seeks to promote the interest of the newspapers industry in Nigeria. The association makes rules that affects its members in the area of commission on adverts placements by advertising agencies and also perform other functions such as the establishment of rules and regulations by which advertisers may deal with their members and the settlement of accounts by advertising agencies in Nigeria. NPAN has organized management structure and a functional secretariat.

          The Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria, BON was created as part of efforts aimed at regulating broadcasting in Nigeria. Efforts made at forming the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON) dates back to 1973. By then, there was a need for an organization under which broadcasting media in Nigeria would interact with one another. Apart from serving as an organ through which television and radio organizations would speak with one voice, such organization would be used as a rallying point for coverage of major, national and international events. In particular, there was the need for effective co-ordination of broadcast media for the 1973 "All African Games" held in Nigeria. The World Festival of Black African Arts and Culture (FESTAC) also provided the platform through which BON was revived and given a new lease of life in 1977.  After FESTAC '77, the fledgling organization went into hibernation for about seven years. Unlike earlier seeds which germinated and withered away, the real seed that has grown into what is today known as BON, was planted by Prince Tony Momoh, the then Minister of Information in 1987. While addressing a workshop on the role of broadcasting in the transition to the aborted Third Republic in Abuja, Prince Tony Momoh threw a challenge to broadcasters to resuscitate BON. A six-man committee was mandated to resuscitate the ailing BON; the new BON was then born on 11th August 1988 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

  Prior to the resuscitation of BON, There were some broadcasting media groups such as:  Chief Executives of Federal and State Owned Radio Organizations
- Television Organizations of Nigeria (TON)
- State Owned Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (SOBON)

The objectives of the New BON as at today are as follows: To serve as a meeting point for all Radio and Television Stations including cable and satellite operations in Nigeria, to serve as an advisory body to the Federal and State Governments on broadcasting matters and to encourage and sustain greater co-operation and collaboration among the broadcasting organizations, to seek and utilize available resources for manpower training, research and development, and set training standards, to set, regulate and monitor professional standards and ethics of its members. The Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, OAAN is the official body of various outdoor advertising companies operating in Nigeria. The organization reserves the right to oversee all corporate entitles that involved in the practice of outdoor advertising in Nigeria, such corporate entities must be fully register to do business in Nigeria.

Historically, Afromedia Nigeria limited, which was registered precisely on The 28th October 1959, was one of the earliest outdoor agencies. It later changed its name to Lintas Nigeria limited. Outdoor started in earnest. In 1963. Mr. Kelly of Afromedia spearheaded the development of outdoor industry by bringing clients that patronized outdoor intensively together to form an association with the outdoors companies Afro-media and Railways with the name, Outdoors Advertising Contractors of Nigeria (OACAN). However, during this period, there were other outdoors companies, like Railway Advertisement Service, Nigeria Advertising Service (NAS), Wilmer Publicity, Gilbertson Advertising Limited, Nigeria Commercial and Industries Enterprise Publicity Associates of Nigeria limited. While Outdoor Advertisement Contractor of Nigeria came into being in 1954, the name was changed to Outdoor Adverting Association of Nigeria (OAAN) in 1986 to reflect both in outlook and practice the practice of advertising in Nigeria. . Outdoors is the oldest advertising medium in Nigeria, though the print media was few years ahead of outdoors. The Lagos state Signage and Advertising Agency, LASAA is another of the latest advertising institutions in Nigeria. LASAA is one of the state agencies tasked with beautifying the state, the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), is responsible for sanitizing the outdoor environment and making sure that hoardings and signage do not clutter the Lagos state environment.