Intercontinental Marketing & Communication Consortium Limited has issued an apology to the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) regarding the ‘All Eyes On the Judiciary’ billboards.
Gatekeepers News reports that following ARCON’s directive on August 15, several billboards with the mentioned slogan were ordered to be taken down across the country.
Additionally, ARCON disbanded the Advertising Standards Panel responsible for approving the billboards, “targeted at the presidential election petition tribunal”.
Olalekan Fadolapo, the director-general of ARCON, explained that the advertisement violated vetting guidelines and had the potential to disrupt public peace.
In response to the violation notice, the marketing agency conveyed their apology through a statement from Stephen Ogboko, the managing director of the company, as reported by Punch.
“We sincerely apologise for this and state that our action was not intentional,” Ogboko was quoted as saying.
“The truth is that immediately after we received the brief for the said campaign, we sent the artwork to Mr Markus Inji Lukman, an ARCON liaison officer who has helped us vet campaign materials in the past.
“Mr Lukman assured us that the material would be approved, as he had seen a similar one.”
Ogboko added that the company would never do anything capable of threatening the nation’s judiciary.
In his reaction, Fadolapo stated that despite the apology, the company would face the tribunal.
“They’ll be appearing before the Advertising Offences Tribunal and need to explain their position because it is very unfortunate,” he said.
“Verbal or communication of approval through verbal means or text messages doesn’t constitute approval.
“They are professionals; they are sworn to the advertising oath to protect the integrity of the profession.
“So, coming out to say that somebody within the system orally or verbally gave them approval is not acceptable.
“The damage is done already and they will be appearing before the tribunal.”
Fadolapo added that the official who purportedly gave the verbal approval had been queried.
