The attention of the management of Guinness Nigeria Plc has been drawn to a press release issued last Friday by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and signed on its behalf by one Nkechi May-Nzeribe. In that press release, Ms. May Nzeribe stated that APCON has, through its Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) Committee lifted the ban placed on Guinness Nigeria Plc because “Guinness complied by withdrawing all advertisements that had been scheduled to run and apologized over the broadcast of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout adverts on Digital Satelite Television (DSTV) outside the prescribed periods allowed by the APCON Code of Advertising and Promotion guidelines”. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Contrary to the claim by APCON in the widely circulated report, Guinness Nigeria Plc had withdrawn the advertisement in question before the meeting of the APCON Council which endorsed the recommendation of the ASP to impose sanction on the company. In fact, the decision by the ASP to recommend the withdrawal of the sanction imposed on Guinness Nigeria Plc followed a meeting between the management of the company, its marketing and media agencies and APCON in which the company established that it was not in breach of the relevant provision of the Code of Advertising Practice and Sales Promotion as of the date the decision by APCON was taken.
At the said meeting, both parties agreed the process of rescinding the withdrawal of certificates of approvals granted to Guinness Nigeria for the advertising of its alcoholic beverages including the submission of a letter by the company stating its side of the story. As a matter of fact, the draft of the letter was jointly agreed with Mr. Ade Akinde, who made input into it and explained that, in view of the fact that the Council of APCON had no scheduled meeting for another few weeks, the submission of the letter with part of the content provided by him was the fastest and easiest way of correcting the error which the ASP had misled the Council of APCON into by its decision to withdraw the certificates of approval earlier issued to the company. Following approval of the draft letter by Mr. Akinde, it was printed on the company’s stationery, signed and submitted to APCON.
OUTCOME OF APIP INVESTIGATION
ReplyDeleteA 15-page report deriving from several documentary materials as well as oral video interview of several stakeholders including Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nigeria Breweries Plc, Mr. Ade Akinde, frpa, mni and the ASP members was submitted to the APCON Chairman and reviewed by its Council.
The APIP report of the preliminary investigation has not been able to establish any prima facie case or elicit sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations made against the ASP and Mr. Ade Akinde, frpa, mni its Chairman.
Indeed, without prejudice to independent investigation conducted by the APIP viz interview of other relevant, potentially affected parties, the Management of Guinness Nigeria Plc specifically and unequivocally wrote in a letter dated May 27, 2013, addressed to the Chairman, APIP to the effect that it never made any allegations of bias or discriminatory treatment against the ASP and its Chairman, Mr. Ade Akinde, frpa, mni but was merely expressing its perception of the issues and as such viewed the invitation of Guinness Nigeria Plc as “very unfortunate”.
In the event, it has become clear to the Council that there was no credible and cogent basis for taking any disciplinary proceedings against any member of the Advertising Standards Panel or its Chairman, and the Council has cleared them of all allegations of wrong doing.
As part of the already existing efforts to promote the highest standard of ethics and professionalism in the discharge of APCON’s regulatory functions as well as the practice and profession of advertising, through the reform of existing Advertising Laws and Bye Laws, the Council is working with its consultants on its legislative amendment agenda to pay special attention to complaint procedure and feedback mechanisms, to ensure that perception of bias is eliminated or minimized as reasonably practicable.