Dearth of literature, huge challenge to advertising students in tertiary institutions —ARCON DG

The Director-General, Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Lekan Fadolapo, has identified inadequate advertising materials and literature as a huge factor hindering the growth of the marketing communication industry in the country.

He also said that the development is affecting the study of the course in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

Fadolapo, who made this observation at a media briefing on the second Annual Advertising Industry Colloquium (AIC 2.0), held in Lagos at the weekend, also attributed the challenge to the existing gap between the academia and professionals in the sector.

He explained that the decision to organise the annual colloquium, now in its second edition, is to bridge the gap between the town and the gown and provide resource materials for students of advertising.

While commending the chairman and members of the Advertising Industry Colloquium and Academic Journal Committee of ARCON for their contributions towards fostering the relationship between the industry’s town and the gown, the ARCON boss expressed the belief that the forthcoming event would provide stakeholders the opportunity to interrogate advertising and come up with ideas aimed at making the industry meet the 21st Century needs of stakeholders.

“Any industry that doesn’t bridge the gap between the town and the gown will run into crisis. The purpose of this conversation, therefore, is to ensure that both the academics and professionals are on the same page.

“This is extremely important to us as an industry that is challenged with so many things. This makes us interrogate the body of knowledge called advertising, since definition of advertising, several years ago, is not the same today.

“Researches are done by our academics year in year out and sometimes, these are not published. The literature that is meant to contribute to the body of knowledge is not accessible to the people who are supposed to make maximum use of it, hence the council’s resolve at engaging all stakeholders. That is why we are seeing a professor of advertising leading the team,” he stated.

Commending the apex regulatory body for coming up with the idea of a colloquium, the Chairman, Advertising Industry Colloquium and Academic Journal Committee, Professor Rotimi Olatunji, stated that the 2024 edition of the colloquium offers greater promise and deliverables than those of the previous year.

Olatunji noted that the colloquium, tagged, ‘Harnessing Emerging Technologies for Sustainable Advertising Education and Professional Excellence in Nigeria’ and expected to hold on June 27, in Lagos, will feature keynote address, creative advertising pitch competition involving eight tertiary institutions from the six geo-political zones of the country and a job fair.

Professor Olatunji added that the event will also feature panel discussion where participants will touch on diverse areas of impact of emerging technologies on advertising and marketing communications professions and scholarship.

One of the highlights of this year’s edition is the public presentation of the maiden edition of ARCON Journal of Advertising and Marketing Communications (AJAMC), he added.

ALSO READ: FG engages private sector on Fodder, Soybean export to Saudi Arabia