Why some contracts in IMC sector remain unenforceable —Expert

A legal practitioner cum marketing communications practitioner, Mr. Nosakhare Uwadiae, has stated that most of the client-agency contracts, signed in the nation’s integrated marketing communication space  are not always enforceable in the law courts because they were not always well thought-out.

Uwadiae , who is the Managing Partner/Consultant of GEE Law Firm, disclosed this at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Brands Journalists’ Association of Nigeria (BJAN), held recently in Lagos.

He argued that though the new Advertising Industry Standards of Practice (AISOP), introduced by the  Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), will address some contentious issues in the industry,  he however believed that practitioners would still have to up their games in their area of contract-signing.

According to him, a lot of agency-clients contracts were not being honoured in the industry; since the services of the legal practitioners were always  not sought before such contracts were consummated, thereby making them unconscionable in the law court.

While charging the nation’s advertising agencies on the need to exercise caution before putting pen to paper with their clients, the GEE Law Firm’s boss argued that involving  legal practitioners would reduce the huge number of ‘master-servant’ agreements being presently witnessed in the industry.

While commending the apex regulatory body in the industry on the recently-released Advertising Industry Standards of Practice (AISOP), Uwadiae however advised that such document would only achieve its much-desired effects, with the consents of all stakeholders in the industry, especially the sectoral groups.