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Decency in Advertisement: An Observer’s View By Ibrahim I. Bello
I have been wondering alone lately over the positive shift I am noticing in our, especially, outdoor adverts. There seems to me a conscious, methodological shift from portraying our womenfolk as sex objects in the name of advertising. What is it that has come upon these ad people? I asked myself. Is it a new moral crusade among the practitioners? I started speculating.
Answers to my queries came when the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) brought their Summit to Kano penultimate Wednesday. I attended the Summit, more out curiosity than by logic. I am not into advertising yet, but being in the Public Relations business I know sooner than later I will find myself in the midst of ad professionals.
As a recipient of ad messages, I noticed, more and more outdoor adverts involving women that adorn the streets of Kano depict them adorably in their full hijab nowadays. Take example of the Glo mms ad, the woman in that ad had a black veil hanging from her head down over shoulders. Similarly, the woman in maggi cube is portrayed as a decent, responsible married woman. She was also wearing her white veil. Although our women do not go into their kitchens with their hijabs on (the model was captured tasting a dip from her soup) but the symbolism is apt, appropriate and appreciated by the larger society. Another decently displayed ad was that of Indomie noodles; not only the mother was spotted with her hijab like most mothers in Kano would like to be portrayed but even the daughter has her little head scarp so beautifully worn. I couldn’t help noting the white cap the son was wearing in that ad. I am never tired of looking at that ad each time I pass by it for it reminds me my little Abdallah at home. I feel so culturally attached to that advert and many of my friends I talk to feel the same. Even the toilet soaps ad that had acquired notoriety for featuring bare skin ladies are now conforming. The latest new Dettol skin care soap now on bill boards in Kano is a case in point. This latest ad shows a close-up shot of a young lady with her veil tightly round her face. It is a decent piece of advert and its message is well communicated.
Back to the ASP summit. The one day Summit was a sensitization efforts by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) to which the ASP is one of its Statutory Standing Committees. It is supposed to be the ad industry’s watchdog, if you like. The theme of the summit was “Promoting Advertising Standards through Self-regulation and Partnership. Altogether three papers were presented and discussed at the gathering. All the papers made a strong case for self-regulatory approach to conforming to all the codes of the advertising practice. All the presenters insisted that advertising MUST inspire confidence, be legal, be honest, be truthful and above all be DECENT.
Mallam Abubakar Jijiwa, one of the paper presenters made a case for regulation by cautioning us that “when freedom becomes a license to abuse public forum, it may lead to the destruction of values”. He argued in introductory section of his paper that “no matter the medium of advertisement chosen, there have always been conscious efforts to regulate it, base on the premise that if left without restrictions, some people find it difficult to follow the path of rectitude and discretion.” He further buttressed this point with the introduction of decent dress code now going on in our higher institutions of learning. He said, “most institutions of learning are now forced to have dress codes because the freedom to determine the type of clothes students wear has been abused, hence a regulation”
Mr. Enyi Odigbo, another presenter at the summit drew the attention of the advertising agencies to the benefits of self-regulation. He implored the ad agencies to view self-regulation as business of self preservation and corporate social responsibility. As Jijiwa would rightly put it “self respect and consideration for morals should let advertisers know that it is far better to use decently dressed ladies rather than half-naked ones for advertising.”
In his welcome address earlier on, the Acting Registrar of APCON, Mr. Bola Agboola drew the attention of all stakeholders to a scheme in operation called the ADCHECK Scheme, which solicits for the assistance of all Nigerians in monitoring and reporting all advertisements in the media that violate the basic principles of advertising which are legality, decency, honesty and truthfulness. Those of us at the Summit were shown copies of letters of complaints received by APCON through the adcheck scheme. And recipients like me came out of the summit determined to help ASP monitor these indecent ads.
The first paper presented at the summit was written by Mr. Emmanuel Ekunno, who is also the Chairman of ASP. He told the summit how ASP operates and aims to achieve its set objectives. He also explained the several instruments of control to regulate the ads in the arsenal of the ASP ranging from the mandatory submission of adverts for vetting, advertising codes, adcheck scheme to the various existing legislations and sanctions provisions. Little wonder then that we have started witnessing shift toward decent adverts. Nevertheless, I said kudos to all those conforming ad agencies.
However, the stakeholders at the Summit were assured that the bottom-line of the summit was to discuss and seek solutions to common problems especially as they relate to ethical and professional matters with the aim of building partnerships so that the advertising industry will be moved forward. APCON prefers a self-regulatory approach. This is fine. If ad agencies imbibe self-regulation the tasks of ASP is made easier. And indeed, with self-regulatory built on sound moral and ethical foundations, the ad world would add much value to our cultural heritage, collective humanity and save us from the daily assault on our collective moral psyche. And Mr. May Enzeribe, that fatherly figure at the summit, who the stakeholders fondly call the Father of APCON would be happier leaving behind an industry that is up to its calling in all of its ramifications. Bello writes from Kano and can be reached at iibello@yahoo.com
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