TOTAL INDEPENDENCE BEST FOR APCON, says ASA Boss

That the Federal Government of Nigeria has stopped funding the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the country’s apex regulatory body for the practice of advertising is no longer news. However, what is news is its potential as expressed by the Director General of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), UK, Mr. Christopher Graham in his High Holborn London office on Wednesday, August 30, 2006.

This was against the backdrop of obsessive apprehensions exhibited by stakeholders with regard to the continued existence of the Council vis-à-vis an industry reputed for deliberately flouting rules and regulations laid down by the regulatory body. As Uche Nworah, APCON’s country representative in the UK and I paid a scheduled courtesy call on Mr. Graham, we had the opportunity of drawing from his wealth of experience. He was unequivocal about the need for APCON to be completely independent of the Government if it must operate like the ASA.

For the ASA to effectively provide assistance to the Nigerian advertising industry, Mr. Graham advised that APCON should strive to collaborate with big international brands like Procter and Gamble and Unilever toward a mutually beneficial relationship with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), the only global organisation that represents the common interests of marketers. Before then he had suggested that APCON initiate the process of registering with the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), the single authoritative voice on advertising self-regulation issues.

It is instructive that the EASA promotes high ethical standards in commercial communications by means of effective self-regulation while it is sensitive about national differences of culture, legal and commercial practice. The link became clearer when Mr. Graham added that the ASA’s work regulating broadcast and non- broadcast advertising is funded by the advertising industry through a 0.1% levy on advertising airtime and 0.1% of display advertising costs as well as 0.2% of Mailsort contracts respectively.

The monies are collected by separate bodies, i.e. the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Basbof) and the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Asbof) respectively. The implication of this system is the ASA does not know how much each advertiser contributes thereby making it impossible to be influenced in its decision-making.

The ASA therefore cannot disburse its resources arbitrarily despite the fact that it is generously funded; resources received are specifically for the regulation of advertising in the UK. However, since the ASA provides training opportunities for EASA members, Nigeria stands a good chance of also benefiting if it joins.

EASA actually organises training for Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs) under development so as to enable new staff from these SROs to benefit from experience in SROs of a relevant size operating in similar advertising markets. The SROs are responsible for advertising content. The Alliance also comprises European industry federations that are supportive of advertising self-regulation and they represent advertisers, agencies and media. It is noteworthy that four of the SROs in EASA are from non- European countries and they include South Africa and the United States of America.

Though I am very optimistic that Mr. Graham’s recommendation, if implemented, would change the face of advertising regulation in Nigeria, the evolution processes and the peculiarities of our society pose a massive challenge. We stand to gain from belonging to the WFA, for example: it guarantees maximum effectiveness and efficiency of corporate ad spend through the sharing of knowledge, insights and expertise in marketing communications.

The WFA provides assistance to members e.g. setting global best practice standards in media and advertising and it also advocates for them when local practices do not meet global best practice standards. I strongly believe that as long as the Nigerian advertising industry continues to grapple with above-inflation media cost increases, poor media audience measurement systems, challenges in agency compensation policies, lack of transparency in media buying and advertiser-agency relationships, associating with the WFA will be beneficial in the long run. This view was actually corroborated by Mr. Graham who called for the relationship so as to make self-regulation work.

The ASA rules on complaints about advertisements in all media and it works in the public interest to keep advertising standards high; it is independent of the Government and the advertising industry. The ASA Council is appointed by the chairman and two-thirds of the members are independent of the advertising industry.

How can Nigeria’s advertising industry demonstrate an ability to regulate itself responsibly, by actively promoting the highest ethical standards in commercial communications and safeguarding consumers’ interests? What is the level of cooperation amongst industry groups which are supposed to run a self-regulatory philosophy? How can we achieve the evolution of a national self-regulatory organisation, etc.?

These were questions that bothered my mind as I listened to the amiable Mr. Graham. Meanwhile our industry should see the ASA boss’ advice as a welcome challenge.