The Invention Of Outdoor Advertising In Nigeria
Advertising or advertising is a form of communication for marketing and used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. This type of work belongs to a category called affective labor (Wayne et al., 2008).
Long before America was colonized, commerce flourished in the Old World where various methods were used to promote trade. Notice boards placed outside houses indicated what could be had within. Wine cellars gave free samples in the streets. And actors paraded in the streets attempting to entice onlookers into theatres. The idea of commerce is very old indeed, and the means of inducing others into exchange relationships was not far behind in its development. (Advertising and Society Review)
As we have seen, an advertisement can be very simple, and simple advertising, eg for events, has been around for as long as people have been trying to make money out of attracting a wider public. Posters announcing an event were probably the first form of advertising, and these date back to gladiatorial contests in Ancient Rome. The first advertisements, however, which fit our full definition of advertising (ie paid for, occupying space in a media form) appear in newspapers in the seventeenth century. These tended to be straightforward statements of fact, without any fancy typesetting or illustrations, and were often indistinguishable from the news stories around them. As the eighteenth century wore on, the Industrial Revolution gathered pace, and consumer goods became more sophisticated, manufacturers began to recognize that they needed to create a need for their products. Many items were new to consumers, or were new variations. Josiah Wedgewood, who manufactured pottery in England in the second half of the seventeenth century, was particularly good at creating new markets for his wares through advertising. He brought cups and plates into the budget and households of middle class families-a much larger market than the wealthy aristocratic households who had previously been the only purchasers of dinner sets.
The nineteenth century saw the skills of the advertiser come to the forefront, as ads began to mix images and words, and adopt the techniques of language and layout that we are familiar with today. With the proliferation of goods and services in this century, it became recognised that advertising was an important part of business, and should be dealt with by experts in the field. Most of the advertising agencies that dominate the global markets today were founded in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
During the early part of the twentieth century, governments began to recognise the power of advertising to get their message across to their ‘consumers’ (ie their citizens). This was particularly apparent during the First World War, when advertising was used to enlist soldiers
and enforce government policies. (http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/advertising/advertising.php?pageID=history)
Advertising in Nigeria could be said to have started officially with Rev. Henry Townsend’s Newspaper called Iwe Iroyin in 1859. This particular newspaper carried advertisements on births and other social events.
However, professional advertising is often said to have started in 1928 with the birth of West African Publicity Limited. Derived from UAC, it was established to cater for the needs of the colonial masters in Nigeria and West Africa. This company later became an advertising agency in 1929 named Lintas with two other subsidiaries namely Afromedia, the outdoor medium and Pearl/Dean, the cinema arm. In the 1950’s new advertising agencies emerged. The medium of advertising was in its infancy in those days Federal Government owned National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) where he only television stations that operated in the four regions of East, West, North and later Midwest. With the increase in practitioners, an agency regulatory body had to be formed to standardize their practices. A meeting of the agencies held at Ebute Metta, Lagos in 1971 was to metamorphose into Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (AAPN) with the objective of protecting practitioners against unfavorable business. The association was later renamed Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN).
The need to establish an institution Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) by Decree 55 of 1988, later renamed Act 55 of 1988 by the civilian administration on November 1989, the first meeting of the association held somewhere in Ebute-meta, Lagos finally culminated to the birth of APCON. In the 1990’s the sector came alive, it began to expand beyond advertising as full services public relation firms such as the Quadrant JSP and Quest were established. Also the era witnessed the mad rush of foreign affiliations. While some agencies sought this affiliation to help boost their human capital, others just joined the bandwagon just to feel among. Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) later emerged in 1928. Today, Nigerian advertising industry, is making efforts to ensure that they measured up to global industry practice. Affiliations also avails them of technical knowhow in the areas of creativity and training. The industry has grown to shooting their adverts locally and injecting a lot of local content in their campaigns the regulatory body of advertising, APCON, is living up to expectations by the measures put in place to sanitize the industry. Of note is professionalizing the practice to ensure that quacks are reduced if not flushed out completely. Again measures are adopted to ensure practitioners operate within set advertising standards. Sectional associations include Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Newspapers proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN).
(http://introductiontomasscommunication2.blogspot.com/2010/05/history-of-advertsing-in-nigeria.html)
