The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) is set to sanction Sterling Bank over it’s recent ” Agege Bread” Easter Advertisement.
The advert compared the resurrection of Jesus Christ with “Agege Bread”. The advertisment reads, “Like Agege Bread, He Rose!”
The council in a statement signed by Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, Registrar/Chief Executive, APCON and made available to Brand Communicator described the advert as insensitive and provocative.
According to the statement, “The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has observed with displeasure the insensitive and provocative Easter Celebration advertisement by Sterling Bank which compared the resurrection of Christ with Agege Bread.
“The distasteful advertisement was neither submitted or approved for exposure by the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP), the statutory panel charged with the responsibility of ensuring that advertisements confirm with the prevailing laws of the federation as well as the code of ethics of Advertising in Nigeria.”
It added that ” APCON will take necessary actions to ensure that Sterling Bank is sanctioned for the exposure of such offensive advertisement according to law and no religious belief or faith is ridiculed or any blasphemous advertisement exposed in any guise,” the statement reads.