By Princewill Ekwujuru
Advertising  Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has advised Advertising Practitioners to  adhere to the ethics of the advertising profession by a conscious compliance with the laws, rules and regulations of the practice.

This advise  dominated discussions at the  advertising stakeholders’ forum recently in  Nnewi, Anambra State, in a seminar organized by  APCON, with the theme “How to Advertise for Profit and Business Growth,” advertisers and practitioners were enjoined to operate in accordance with the provisions of the code of advertising practice and to ensure that all advertisements are legal, truthful, honest, decent and socially responsible.

Presenting a paper titled “Advertising Regulations: what the Advertiser, and the practitioner must know and observe,” Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi, APCON Registra, told the participants that “the rules and regulations of advertising ‘are designed to ensure that your engagement in advertising is not only rewarding to you and your business but also that the society in which you conduct your business does not suffer on account of the manner in which you utilize advertising,”

He noted that advertising regulation seeks to:  Protect the consumer and the larger society against the potential harmful effects of advertising; ensure that marketers do not abuse their freedom of commercial speech in their quest for profit, ensure that businesses compete fairly thereby sustaining the operation of a free market economy and act as safeguard of the integrity of advertising communication and secure public acceptance, confidence and respect for the advertising profession.