By Ed Malik, A
ed@ddnewsonline.com
In a move aimed at boosting local content, the federal government through the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has placed a ban on the use of foreign models and voice-over artists for advertisements that target Nigerian market, with effect from October 1.
The ARCON director-general Olalekan Fadolapo in a statement on Monday August 22, 2022 disclosed also, the change of name from the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) to Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) after bill giving legal teeth was signed into law.
According to him, “ARCON, being the apex advertising, advertisement and marketing communications’ regulatory agency of the Federal Government, has in accordance with its statutory mandates, responsibilities and powers as conveyed by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria Act No. 23 of 2022 bans the use of foreign models and voice-over artists on any advertisement targeted of exposed on the Nigerian advertising space with effect from Ist October 2022,”.
Continuing, he said that all advertisements and marketing communications content are to use only Nigerian artists and models.
He however, explained that ongoing advertising and marketing campaigns are permitted to run out of their current circle of subsisting advertisements, after which the ban will be enforced, saying that “subsequent applications for revalidation for continued exposure of such materials will not be granted by the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP).”
ARCON urged all advertisers, advertising agencies, media houses, advertising communities and the general public to take note of the ban.