Lisa Mugo
Starting October 2022, Nigeria is set to ban foreigners from appearing in local TV adverts, in a bid to promote local talent.
The move was announced by the Nigerian government after a study was done revealing that foreigners had dominated the advertising market. The government now hopes to change that by only allowing Nigerians to grace TV screens and take part in voice overs.
“Ten to 20 years ago, if you checked the commercials, I would say they were almost 50/50 in terms of foreign faces and all the voiceovers were British accents,” said Steve Babaeko, president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria.
Babaeko also expressed his disappointment as there were around 200 million Nigerians and that at least one of them has to be good enough for what advertisers are looking for.
The Nigerian advertising industry was valued at $450 million, as of 2021. With the new move, the government is hoping to increase the numbers.
