Dr.  Olaekan Fadolapo, Director General of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON)

As citizens prepare to vote for their preferred candidate during the 2023 General Elections after exposure to various political campaigns, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has revealed that it vetted 298 Political advert from 16 political parties before they were placed in the media.

The Council as part of its duty to sanitise the advertising industry and ensure ethical standard, ensures that adverts are vetted before they are exposed.

A statement obtained from the office of the Director General of ARCON revealed that nine adverts from two of the major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Party (APC) were not approved by the agency.

These adverts comprise five (5) TVCs (Titled 3 Mandates by PDP), two radio adverts ( Tonye Cole and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed) and two TVCs by APC. It added that two TVCs were revised.

A breakdown of the adverts approved and the political parties shows that APC -120, PDP-94, LP-35, NNPP-8, APGA-4, Action Alliance-2, YPP-10, SDP-9, ADP-1, NRM-1, PRP-3, APP-2, ADC-5, Boot-1, APM-1, and Accord-2

Speaking to an online news platform, Dr.  Olaekan Fadolapo, Director General of  ARCON, said the Council recorded an impressive compliance to the advertising law and stipulated guidelines for political marketing and communication this year adding that there were some infractions which were addressed by the agency in line with the advertising law.

“The level of adherence to ARCON directive on compliance with the ARCON Act and the Nigerian Code of Advertising is quite commendable. We have seen an increased application for pre-exposure vetting and advertisers’ submission to the provisions stipulated by law regulating political advertising, advertisements, and marketing communications.

“The Council has, however, had to take down a few political advertisements that breached the law. Most of those that were taken down subsequently applied to the Standards Panel and followed the procedure as demanded by the Act and Code of Advertising Practice,” he stated.

However, he said some political communication materials not vetted made their way to online platform but the Council will continue to improve its operations .

“It will be incorrect to state that all political communications on-going at the moment passed through the Standards Panel pre-exposure vetting. Some of these communications, especially those exposed online and through social media, are done by the promoters with the intention to score cheap or worthless political points bereft of meaningful ideas. Political parties and aspirants usually dissociate themselves from such calumnious campaigns when brought to their attention” he said.