The Advertising Association of Ghana has renewed calls for regulation of advertising practice in Ghana to protect the interest of consumers and to ensure sanity in the industry.

Executive Director of the AAG, Francis Dadzie made the call at a signing ceremony of a grant agreement between the association and the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund under the Business Sector Programme Support in Accra, Friday.

“The Advertising Bill is the panacea for most of the challenges plaguing the industry today such as the indiscriminate siting of out of home advertising structures and will also lead to licensing of practitioners, professionalism, consumer protection, and growth of the industry”, he said.

He added that the bill addresses issues such as consumer protection from deceptive advertising, gender stereotyping and exploitation of children in advertisements.

He disclosed that the association is currently engaging the Ministries of Trade and Industry, and Communications to ensure the draft bill is passed by parliament within the year.

With the support of BUSAC Fund, the association has since 2012 been advocating for an Advertising Bill which will establish a legislative framework leading to the set-up of an Advertising Council to regulate the industry.

The bill made it through parliament for the first reading in 2016 but could not be passed before the mandate of the fourth parliament of the fourth republic expired in December 2016. This means the whole process for passing the bill has to be restarted.

Fund Manager, Nicholas Jorgensen Gebara explained why the Business Sector Programme Support continues to partner the AAG in the advocacy for the advertising bill.

“We have been encouraging AAG to push for a bill to uphold ethical standards for the advertising industry and we’re by this new agreement following up for the association to push for the bill to pass through parliament. The funds will be used to sensitize the parliamentary select committees on Communications and Trade, Industry and Tourism as well as other stakeholders on the need for the Advertising Bill.”

President of the Advertising Association of Ghana, Joel Nettey expressed appreciation for the Business Sector Programme Support funded by DANIDA, EU, USAID, and the BUSAC Fund which has made it possible for the AAG to continue its advocacy for regulation of the advertising industry in Ghana.