Advertising Association Asks Gov't To Regulate Industry

The Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) has requested government to establish an advertising standards authority, to help regulate the industry. The body will help to minimise the negative impact that the brands communications industry is having on the youth. In an interaction with Vice President John Dramani Mahama at the Osu Castle on Friday, Mr Reginald Laryea, President of the AAG, said although the association continued to play key roles in the imaginative arts sector, the creation of a standard arbiter would help boost its image and deter charlatans. Mr Laryea said the state collaborated with the AAG during the redenomination of the cedi in changing public behaviour with the view to grow the national economy. He said such successes could be replicated in other fields of national endeavour to influence positively on the behaviour of the citizenry in keeping with government's social agenda. Mr Laryea expressed the hope that through effective collaboration, the industry could help create employment, stimulate the economy and shape the mindset of the people. Vice President Mahama agreed that the establishment of a regulatory body could help impact positively on the youth as some negative adverts were seen as infecting their mindset to be incorrigible. Mr Mahama commended the association for its professional stance but entreated the members to support government in its sanitation endeavour as the littering of Ghana's towns and cities was getting out of hand with its attendant environmental and health implications.