BenAnyan.com

The biggest advertisers in Ghana are Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies, followed by telcos. Even FMCGs that don’t spend on advertising agencies have huge media budgets.

There is a much greater desire to reach consumers than to reach them with effective creative communication. Also the professional association for advertising agencies (AAG) doesn’t have the power to regulate the quality of ads that go out. This makes it easy for unethical advertisers to say anything and mislead consumers. So who comes in to ‘save the day’? The Food & Drugs Authority (FDA)!

In their own words “The FDA exists to protect public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, food, biological products, cosmetics, medical devices, household chemical substances, tobacco and the conduct of clinical trials in the country.”

Surely these must be a bunch of smart scientists who can see through all chemical shenanigans, but does that make for a communication expert? Nope. However in the absence of a body with the power to regulate the creative quality of ads –including FMCG ads- they are impacting that aspect of ads too.

Some mandatories weaken the creative appeal of ads.

Eventually, you end up with a bunch of technically accurate but creatively dead ads. Chief example; with advertising agencies struggling to say everything client wants said in 30” and with ad seconds being so expensive, it’s a big ask to insist that 5” be dedicated to saying “This ad has been vetted and approved by the FDA”.

Insisting this is legibly written on billboards and print ads takes away from the aesthetic value of ads. Is this the most creatively efficient way to regulate the technical integrity of goods being advertised? Nope. Whilst some feedback ensures that messaging is accurate, others betray the lack of creative and communication proficiency.

Procedural inefficiencies also mean a delay in response time, which has major impact on when, and how a campaign breaks. When the FDA comes up in conversations between advertisers and their agencies, they’re the unrestrained bully.

There’s no denying it; the FDA is powerful and there is no ranking organization to represent the interest of creative agencies. Until there is a balance in the advertising regulatory framework where the AAG/ communication experts are empowered to champion the creative quality of ads while the FDA champions the technical accuracy of messaging, it’s going to be harder to see great work out in the streets of Accra that do more than giving the FDA free publicity.

PS: Originally written in Sept 2019 @ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/food-scientists-regulating-ghanaian-advertising-benjamin-anyan/

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