ONLY a very negligible few noticed the new advertising vetting rates for 2024 when it was first released by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) few weeks ago, until a sub-sector in the industry, the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), cried foul about the rates.
The association had accused the apex regulatory body in the industry of arm-twisting advertisers by asking them to pay a whopping fee of N3 million for ad materials before exposure. And, as expected, the claim has not failed to elicit reactions from stakeholders in the industry.
ARCON has since debunked the claim by insisting that the vetting fee is N35,000 and that the N3 million being bandied about is a deterrent fee aimed at encouraging the use of local talents and productions of advertisement in the country as part of its efforts to grow the industry.
Interestingly, one obvious consensus garnered from stakeholders’ opinions by Nigerian Tribune is the belief that every serious country must have its strategies for growing its economy and that what the apex regulatory body has done is in tune with this line of thought.
A Lagos-based practitioner, who would not want his name in print, described ADVAN’s claim as amounting to crying wolves where there are none.
“I will advise you to take your time to check the new rates. If you check the list closely, you will discover that there are some categories that still go as low N20,000, so what are we saying? Are we expecting the regulatory body to do it free of charge? Besides, the N3 million claim being peddled around by the association is in one of the special categories, not the regular categories. Every organisation has this. There is a difference between booking a one-page, colour advertisement in the newspapers and insisting you want the same advert on the front page of the paper. It will therefore be misleading to say newspapers now charge N5 million or even more for a page of advert without telling the same audience the type of advert you are placing and the position you want it placed.
“You can get a number plate for your vehicle for less than N30,000. But, it will also be wrong of you to say you are being charged double or more if your request to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) was a customised number plate. What I am saying in effect is that if you choose to play in those special categories, I see no reason why you should be reluctant to pay. If you could spend over N500 million and sometimes more on a commercial produced on a foreign land, why the fuss about using a meagre N3 million to vet it?” The Lagos-based practitioner asked rhetorically.
Another practitioner, who also would not want his name in print due to the very sensitive nature of the topic, expressed the belief that the new rates stemmed from the need to protect the local industry and also devise a strategy for the council’s survival.
According to him, ARCON is only living up to its mandate of regulating the practice by coming up with rates that have some special categories that deal with those bent on shortchanging the system.
“I believe going abroad to shoot a commercial that could easily have been done here and expecting a slap on the wrist from the relevant regulatory authorities is just being delusional. Every serious nation protects its own and that is what the Federal Government is doing through ARCON here.
“Besides, the way it is now, some of these agencies are no longer funded by the Federal Government, but they must survive. So, any legitimate efforts at ensuring survival, such as this, should not be seen as out of place,” he added.
