An Appraisal of Persisting Issues in Advertising Practice

Abstract

The paper examines persisting issues in the practice of advertising in Nigeriain spite of its socio-economic importance to the nation and the benefits it offers tomarkets, organisations, and consumers alike. The work closely examines the issuesinvolved with a view to fashioning a way forward towards best practices. Anchoringthe work are persuasion, human action approach theory, Marshal's model, teleological theory and gatekeeping theories. The paper concludes that advertising supports the media and the overall economic system. However, there is no disputing the fact that the practice of advertising has been often misconceived and criticised.The regulatory bodies have not really helped matters, as they are not in very tight control of practitioners; therefore, many things take place. Based on the foregoing, the work recommends that APCON and its subsidiary bodies should vigorously regulate, control and handle malpractices in the advertising domain. Ethical standards should be raised by practitioners. They must be credible to succeed as professionals. Advertsshould pass through the toughest scrutiny so that they can be free of ethnicity.tradition, gender, etc., among others.