The council announced its decision on Tuesday, against the backdrop of Peak Milk’s provocative Easter advertisement.

ARCON stated that companies would face sanctions for “exposure of incendiary and provocative Easter advertisements.”

In a statement, ARCON’s Director-General, Olalekan Fadolapo expressed its concern about a series of advertisements displayed during the latest Easter celebration by advertisers, media groups (traditional and online), and advertising agencies.

According to him, the advertisements were not only provocative and insensitive, but were also published without approval from the Advertising Standards Panel by the provisions of Section 53(1] of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria Act No. 23 of 2022.

He said several advertisements were observed by the council during the Easter celebration to be unpleasant, and demeaning to the Christian faith.

The Council said it would take necessary actions to ensure that the rights, sensitivities, and religious beliefs of any sect, or group of people were not disparaged or exploited for commercial gain or otherwise.

The statement read in part, “Advertisers, advertisement agencies, and media owners are strongly advised to desist from exposing any form of advertisement without obtaining the prior approval of the Standards Panel.” “Violators will be sanctioned by the law.”

However, the move by the apex regulatory body for advertising in the country to sanction the dairy company and other offenders followed an outcry by the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Christian community in general, which described Peak Milk’s Easter advertisement as “insensitive, offensive, and unacceptable.”

However, the company issued a public apology to Christians around the country on Tuesday, stating that it was neither intended to make light of the significance of the season nor inordinately exploit the unmatched sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The photo shows Ronaldo and Messi playing chess on a branded suitcase.

It is part of an advertising campaign for the Louis Vuitton brand.

Before the kickoff of the 2022 World Cup on Sunday, they posted the same photo and caption on social media.

The photo looks stunning and sent a chill to the spine of the footballers who are constantly in debates to as who is the better player.

The reactions from fans across the globe have been nothing more than impressive.

Checks by TechEconomy on Monday morning reveal that the photo had generated over 8 million likes on Ronaldo’s Facebook page which has about 154 million followers. It has 400k comments and 432k shares.

The Guinness world record for the most likes of a single post on Instagram comes, oddly, from a photo of an egg by the Instagram account “world_record_egg,” posted by the Egg Gang, with 55,882,227 likes as of Nov. 20, 2022.

Posted on Jan. 4, 2019, The Egg Gang are “using their record-breaking egg as a platform to support people who suffer from stress and anxiety as a result of social media.”

The apex regulatory body in the nation’s integrated marketing communications space also revealed the consequent change of name to ARCON.

According to a statement on Monday, the Director General of the body, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, also announced the ban on the use of foreign models and voiceover artists in the nation’s advertising space, to further enhance the inclusive growth of the sector.

He explained that the new ARCON Act, the existing APCON Act, promulgated in 1988 to enable the body to effectively regulate and control the practice of advertising in the country.

According to him, the new ARCON Act puts the regulatory body in good stead to better carry out its statutory regulatory duties, since it takes care of noticeable gaps in the former APCON Act.

One of the gaps, he added, is the control of the new media and online advertisement, which he believed was not properly taken care of in the old APCON Act.

Fadolapo however stated that though the new Act provides the council with more regulatory powers, the agency, he added, would only regulate to enhance inclusive growth.

“Stakeholders in the industry should rest assured that we are not regulating to strangulate.

All we plan to achieve with these new regulatory powers is to ensure good corporate governance and inclusive growth in the sector,” he added