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APCON  to query Sterling Bank over ‘blasphemous’ advert

We are sorry – Sterling Bank

Akinwalere Ipoolayemi

The apex regulatory body in the nation’s advertising industry, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has  said it would sanction one of the nation’s financial institutions, Sterling Bank Plc, for exposing an ‘insensitive and provocative’ Easter advert.

The Registrar of the Council, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, in a statement issued on Monday, stated that the financial institution would be queried for comparing the resurrection of Jesus Christ with Agege Bread, a popular bread in Lagos.

Describing the advertisement as ‘distasteful’,  the APCON boss stated the bank would also be sanctioned for its failure to submit the ad material  to the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP)for approval,  before exposure.

The Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) is the statutory panel charged with the responsibility of ensuring  that advertisements comply with the  prevailing laws as well as ethics of Advertising in Nigeria,  before approval.

“The distasteful  advertisement was neither submitted nor approved for exposure by the Advertisisng Standards Panel (ASP), the statutory panel charged with the responsibility of ensuring  that advertisements conform with the prevailing laws of the federation as well as the code of ethics of Advertising in Nigeria.

 

“APCON will take necessary actions to ensure that Sterling Bank is sanctioned for the exposure of such offensive advertisement according to law and that no religious belief or faith is ridiculed or any blasphemous advertisement exposed in any guise,” Fadolapo stated.

Meanwhile, the bank, on Monday, tendered its reserved apology for what it described as a the Easter message email.

While consenting to the criticism that the content of the infographic and the message was insensitive, ‘and failed  to consider the very sober nature of the event being commemorated, the bank in an official statement signed by its chief executive, Abubakar Suleiman, however stated that the message  did not in any way, have ‘a malicious intent’.

“While the message had no malicious intent, there is no place  for content that fails to  fully account for the feelings of billions  of people all over the world. Our honest  intent was to join our millions  of customers in Nigeria and worldwide in celebrating this solemn event, but our execution felt short on this occasion,” the statement read