● APCON vows to sanction bank
By Chisaa Okoye
The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), has described as “offensive and provocative”, an Easter advert by Sterling Bank Plc comparing the resurrection of Christ with the rising of Agege Bread.
The Easter message titled ‘Like Agege Bread, He Rose!’ has generated a lot of backlash from Nigerians, who questioned the rationale for comparing the resurrection of Jesus Christ with Agege Bread.
The message was designed in a banner and shared on the social media pages of the bank.
In a statement on Monday signed by its Registrar and Chief Executive, Olalekan Fadolapo, APCON said the advert copy was not submitted for approval before it was made public.
The agency said the advert was distasteful, insisting that Sterling Bank Plc would be punished for the action.
The statement reads: “The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has observed with displeasure the insensitive and provocative Easter celebration advertisement by Sterling Bank Plc which compared the resurrection of Christ with Agege Bread.
“The distasteful advertisement was neither submitted nor approved for exposure by the Advertising Standards Panel [ASP], the statutory Panel charged with the responsibility of ensuring that advertisements conform with the prevailing laws of the federation as well as the code of ethics of Advertising in Nigeria.
“APCON will take necessary actions to ensure that Sterling Bank is sanctioned for the exposure of such offensive advertisement according to law and that no religious belief or faith is ridiculed or any blasphemous advertisement is exposed in any guise.”
The bank had pulled down the distasteful message from its social media pages and issued another one that said: “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. We humbly celebrate His resurrection, the defeat of death and the hope of salvation.”
The new message was accompanied by a flyer that contained an apology that read in part:
“…let the one who has never sinned cast the first stone. For our recent errors, we sincerely apologise. Forgive us in the spirit of Easter.”
However, many readers have also described this as offensive and insincere.