HASG replies minister on fine for adverts on CNN, others

Heads  Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG) yesterday urged the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to rethink his proposition of imposing fine on advertisements run by Nigerian brands on foreign media outlets, saying it runs contrary to international best practice.

In a statement on Wednesday on the N100,000 fine being mutted by the minister on Nigerian brands that sponsor during foreign matches, HASG  urged him to understand that advertisers put their advertising investment where the eyeballs of Nigerians are. “The media decisions are driven by the consumers’ interest, passion, inspiration and aspirations. CNN and other international news channels are watched by Nigerians locally and internationally, the world is now a global village and Nigerians do not only live within our physical boundaries. Nigeria -based news channels and contents developed locally are also consumed across many countries beyond our borders, with no special fines and levies imposed on companies who place adverts within them”. While there are some merits in the bid to encourage and support local production of contents in a bid to support the local industries, the Minister must understand that these has to be allowed to develop organically. Also, many leading Advertisers are multinational companies who rationally seek to explore economies of scale in the production of materials, negotiation costs and broadcast of their contents which run across many countries. Even with this said, empirical information and trended data shows clearly that investment on local broadcast stations still outweighs that of foreign channels.