A Review Of The Advertising Regulatory Council Of Nigeria's (ARCON) 2023 Vetting Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

The Advertising Standards Panel, established under the provisions of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (“ARCON”) Act, introduced the 2023 Vetting Guidelines to regulate advertisements and marketing communications for products and services in Nigeria. The Advertising Standards Panel acts as a watchdog for consumers, and it is tasked with ensuring that advertisements conform to the prevailing laws of the Federation as well as the Code of Ethics of the advertising profession. In order to achieve its objectives, the Advertising Standards Panel issued the Vetting Guidelines (“the Guidelines”), which establish the framework for approving advertisements in Nigeria.

This article critically examines provisions of the Guidelines and suggests areas for improvement in a manner that aligns with the current realities of Nigeria's advertising sector.

OVERVIEW OF THE GUIDELINE

The Advertising Standards Panel (“the Standards Panel”), established under Section 53 (1) of the ARCON Act, adopted the new Vetting Guidelines on 1 January 2023. These Guidelines were introduced to “protect the public from deceitful and morally wrong advertisements” as well as ensuring conformity with the principle of “fair competition”, a universally recognized business standard.

The scope of the Guidelines extends to “individuals, organizations, body corporate or agency of the Federal, State or Local Government that engages in, sponsors or takes benefit of advertising services as well as any person who sponsors or takes benefit of advertising, advertisement or marketing communication services” and it applies to all brands of advertising whether print, online, cinema, bus branding and any other media platform capable of being used for advertisement.

Under the Vetting Guidelines, all advertisements by anyone, whether online or offline, require approval of the Standards Panel before exposure, with exemptions granted for “vacancies, notices, financial statements, obituaries and immemorial”.

The Guidelines outline specific requirements and procedures for advertisement vetting, including special provisions for alcoholic beverage advertisements and a complete ban on tobacco product advertisements. Additionally, the document stipulates applicable vetting fees and penalties for unauthorised pre-exposure of advertisements without ARCON's approval. To ensure compliance, the Guidelines also include a dedicated section on monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.

Under the Guidelines, the following documents are required for the vetting of advertisements:

1. A formal application addressed to the Director General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), ARCON House, National Theatre Annexe, Iganmu, Lagos.
2. A duly completed Standards Panel Form 001, which must be signed by a registered advertising practitioner not below the rank of an Associate Member.
3. Where advertisements relate to food, beverages, drugs, or other products requiring the approval of NAFDAC, a Certificate or evidence of approval from NAFDAC must be attached.
4. A letter of authorization from the Advertiser authorising agency/organisation to apply for vetting.
5. A copy of the material concept/version proposed to be advertised (television, radio, press, outdoor, poster, banner, flier, truck back, vehicle branding, tricycle branding, lamp pole, squeeze back, LED Board, online, digital, web-based, etc).
6. For commercials on motion pictures, the Applicant may be required to submit a clearly printed Commercial Script or Story Board (in coloured) for approval before production.

Although the Guidelines create a special window for SMEs, an SME would be required to provide a letter of attestation from either the Small & Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) or the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprise (NASME) before it can qualify under the special window.

CRITIQUE

A pressing question arises: What do these Guidelines mean for the average Nigerian, and how will they impact daily business operations?

The Guidelines' comprehensive scope means they apply to all forms of advertising, from large corporate campaigns to small social media promotions worth as little as N5,000.00 (Five thousand naira). This means even the everyday “sponsored post” or “organic post” marketing a product or service on social platforms requires approval from the Standards Panel before they can be published online.

The requirement for vetting under the Guidelines creates a significant burden for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs who may need to pay vetting fees that exceed even their daily profits and navigate complex bureaucratic processes to post simple advertisements on social media. For instance, a small-scale barber who makes a video marketing their services would require the approval of the Standards Panel of ARCON before their video can be advertised on social media. Therefore, if a small business owner plans to make five different social media videos daily, they would be required to submit five applications for approval from the Standards Panel.

Although the objective of the Guidelines is laudable since it seeks to protect the consumers from any misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements, there is a need for certain categories of small businesses and individuals to be removed from having to seek the approval of the Standards Panel before publishing an advertising post on their personal social media pages.

Given that small businesses rely on simple, low-cost advertising methods on social media to earn a living, the strict enforcement of these Guidelines could stunt the growth of many small businesses or discourage entrepreneurship in Nigeria. While the vetting fees and approval processes may be manageable for large companies, many small businesses and individuals will struggle to comply with the provisions of the Guidelines.

Furthermore, the Guidelines provide for “Accelerated Vetting fees” at a higher fee rate, suggesting a possible lack of capacity to process “regular” applications promptly, even though their nature should ordinarily warrant expedited approval.

Finally, since the Guidelines also seek to regulate advertising on social media, it would be ideal for the Vetting Guidelines to be updated to accommodate online vetting applications, as the current Guidelines do not make any provision for an applicant to apply for the approval of the Standards Panel online. It would also be pragmatic if the Standards Panel's approval spans a period of marketing schedules so that applications for approval may be periodic for a single set of products, as it would be impractical to expect applications for approval as frequently as businesses seek to post online or otherwise advertise their products.

CONCLUSION

While the Vetting Guidelines were established with well-defined objectives to protect consumers, a re-evaluation of these Guidelines is necessary to reflect Nigeria's economic realities better while still achieving its goals. As it stands, every person or entity interested in advertising on social media is obliged to adhere to the ARCON Vetting Guidelines to avoid the prescribed sanctions as stated in its Guidelines.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.