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ABDU GUSAU POLYTECHNIC TALATA MAFARA ZAMFARA
STATE
DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION
HNDI MASS COMMUNICATION
Group Assignment
ON
COURSE ADVERTISING AND COPY WRITING AND LAYOUT
(MAC 314)
By
GROUP J
S/NO NAME REG NO
1. GAMBO JOEL MONDAY
2. ADELEKE GANIYAT BUKOLA
3. ALIYU KALLAH
4. SULEIMAN AHMAD
5. ADAMU COMFORT
QUESTION
Trace the history of advertising in Nigeria
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SUBMITTED TO DR. ALIYU DAMRI
INTRODUCTION
Advertising, the techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or
causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain
way toward what is advertised. Most advertising involves promoting a good that is for
sale, but similar methods are used to encourage people to drive safely, to support various
charities, or to vote for political candidates, among many other examples.
HISTORY OF ADVERTISING IN NIGERIA
Advertising in Nigeria
Advertising in Nigeria could be said to have started officially with Rev. Henry Townsend's
Newspaper called Iwe Iroyin in 1859. This particular newspaper carried advertisements
on births and other social events.
History of Advertising In Nigeria. Advertising is one of the fastest-developing
industries in Nigeria and in recent years, a good deal of investment has been channeled
into the industry to keep it abreast with the pace of other vibrant business sectors in
Nigeria. So, why the history of advertising in Nigeria?. Since advertising is the key factor
that generates awareness for any business, it is reasonable for every nation to focus great
attention on its advertising sector.
OUTDOOR ADVERTISING IN NIGERIA
Outdoor advertising in Nigeria has its humble beginning rooted in colonial history.
Advertising development in Nigeria could be traced to about 1928 with the birth of West
African Publicity Limited; a subsidiary of the United African Company (UAC). The
company was set up to cater for the marketing activities of UAC in both Nigeria and other
West African countries as at that time. The company was later to transform to a full-
fledged advertising firm in 1929 and was named Lintas with two other subsidiaries,
Afromedia, the outdoor medium and Pearl/Dean, the cinema arm. Then headed by
expatriates, the companies were to enjoy a monopoly for a long time. It was not until
1950's when other advertising agencies started to emerge on the scene.
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EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISING ASSOCIATIONS IN NIGERIA
Nigeria’s advertising industry was poorly run during its early years. Meanwhile, the sector
was coordinated ineffectively because the Nigerian law didn’t render any support to
promote the activities of advertisers in the country. Owing to this ignorance by the
Nigerian law, those who practiced advertising at the time only did it voluntarily. Although
a good deal of advertisers made efforts of laying down codes of conduct, they couldn’t
achieve this objective due to neglect by the Nigerian law. Amongst the efforts put forward
by advertisers then were the formation of ACON (Advertising Council of Nigeria) and
AAPN (Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria). A number of committed
advertisers voluntarily set up these two associations (ACON and AAPN) in 1977 but they
couldn’t meet their advertising objectives because the Nigerian law failed to support the
practice of advertising in those days.
At the time, the ineffective development of advertising was obvious as Nigerian
advertisers could not promote domestic commodities or services. They, instead,
promoted the services and products which came from foreign sources. Besides, most of
these services and products were not regarded as necessities as the majority of Nigerians
couldn’t afford them. Average Nigerians couldn’t afford the commodities/services
advertised and this made it clear that they were aimed at the wealthy Nigerians.
Nigeria’s advertising was soon strengthened by the growth of global advertising.
Meanwhile, companies and producers began exploring the international market to
promote the sale of their products. This move favoured the growth of Nigeria’s advertising
as it encouraged companies and producers to advertise their products across many parts
of the world. Owing to this, a number of global companies (like Coca-Cola) have
advertised their products massively and spanned their operations in Nigeria and many
other third-world nations.
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HISTORY OF ADVERTISING IN NIGERIA
Some of the technological innovations in the nineteenth century triggered massive
production and many factories succeeded in filling their warehouses with a plethora of
commodities. Meanwhile, this necessitated the creation of essential advertisements
which would use a broad range of media tools in reaching a massive audience.
During the early years of advertising in Nigeria, the TV stations across the eastern, the
northern, the western and the mid-western regions were controlled by the NBC owned by
the Federal Government. Before the attainment of independence, the first private TV
station was established in the western region precisely in Ibadan. Later on, Enugu (in the
East) and Kaduna (in the North) followed this accord in 1960 and 1962 respectively. In
1967, Gen. Yakubu Gowon created the foremost 12 Nigerian States from the formerly
existing Regions. Also during the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, more
Nigerian States were created and this prompted the establishment of more TV and radio
stations by State governments.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS TO ADVERTISING
Advertising in Nigeria was favoured immensely by the emergence of foremost
newspaper-publishing firms like Sketch, Tribune, Express, New Nigeria and Daily Times.
Although prominent magazines like Spear and Drum (from Daily Times) contributed to
the popularity of advertising, the Nigerian advertising industry didn’t achieve tremendous
development from the 1960s to 1970. However, the Indigenization Policy, often described
as the Promotion Decree of 1972 favoured the establishment of Nigerian enterprises. By
virtue of the stated policy, Nigerian indigenes were appointed to hold major positions in
corporate organizations. In accordance with the mandate of the Indigenization Policy, Mr.
Silvester Muoemeka was to be appointed the foremost indigenous chief executive of
LINTAS. Meanwhile, LINTAS played a key role in the significant drift of people from
broadcasting to advertising. Through LINTAS, many Nigerians were encouraged to forgo
their profession of broadcasting and venture into advertising.
LINTAS remained the only significant advertising agency until the duo of Insight
Communication and Rosabei Advertising were introduced in late 1970’s. The emergence
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of these two agencies buttressed the Nigerian advertising industry and paved the way for
creativity and innovations to reach higher standards. Of course, the two agencies are still
operating vibrantly even as Nigeria now has a large number of advertising agencies.
Meanwhile, the need to establish advertising associations was realized as advertising
agencies and practitioners increased in number. It was believed that these associations
would foster advertising activities and help advertising agencies/practitioners in pursuing
common interests. Also, it was agreed that there should be a regulatory body that would,
in addition to its primary role as a regulator, lay down the standards for the practice of
advertising. In 1973, a Lagos-held meeting of advertising agencies was to be transformed
into AAPN (Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria) with the intent of
safeguarding practitioners and agencies from an unsuitable business.
Established in 1973, AAPN has maintained a great reputation in the field of marketing
communications in Nigeria. In 2004, AAPN officially changed its name to AAAN
(Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria). Today, AAAN has made a great mark
as the main body that harmonizes and fosters the interests of advertising agencies in
Nigeria.
HOW ADVERTISING AFFECT NIGERIA ECONOMY
Advertising has a variety of economic effects, with economists citing positive and negative
effects from the practice. Consumer information which is one of advertisings primary
economic effects lies in the way business uses it to convey information to consumers.
The Economics Web Institute points out that advertising relies on information and
persuasion techniques to influence the consumer behaviour.
Reading through the previous paragraphs under the history of advertising, it can be seen
that advertising has effect on Nigeria economy as advertising agencies, such as
Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Advertising Practitioners Council
of Nigeria (APCON), and Advertisers’ Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) were established
in order to monitor business activities in Nigeria and this has brought about increase in
sales of Products (goods, services, and ideas) produced or developed by companies.
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CONCLUSION
Advertising has evolved from just the jingles on TV, radio or that of billboards and
newspapers and magazines. The Internet gave us easier avenue to reach millions of
customers at a cheaper rate. Thanks to platforms like Google Adword, Bing Ads etc. Not
leaving our Social media adverstising and the huge reach possible for even a lay man.
REFERENCE
Ademola, Owolabi (2012). "Effects of Gender-Role Orientation, Sex of Advert Presenter
and Product Type on Advertising Effectiveness". European Journal of Scientific
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Bittlingmayer, George (2008). "Advertising". In David R. Henderson (ed.). Concise
Encyclopedia of Economics (2nd ed.). Indianapolis: Library of Economics and Liberty.
Clow, Kenneth E. and Baack, Donald (2007). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and
Marketing Communications 3rd edition. Pearson Education, pp. 165-71.
Eskilson, Stephen J. (2011). Graphic Design: A New History. New Haven, Connecticut:
Yale University Press, p. 58.
Koc, Erdogan (2002). "Impact of gender in marketing communications: the role of
cognitive and affective cues". Journal of Marketing Communications 8 (4): 257.
