The Advertising Standard Authority Bill is expected to be laid before Parliament soon, following Cabinet’s approval and subsequent publishing it in the Ghana Gazette.

“I’m happy to report that we have made steady progress and have now entered what can be described as the last lap of this race,” Mr Joel Edmund Nettey, President of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) told members at the 25th Annual General meeting in Accra.

The bill when passed would lead to the setting up of the Advertising Standard Authority, to bring together relevant industry players to ensure that things are done right.

Mr Nettey said the Bill when passed into law would help deal with charlatans who parade as marketing communication professionals, and ultimately protect consumers.

It would also help address many issues related to standards and bring sanity into the industry and called on members to help support the process for its early passage.

Mr Nettey announced that the annual flagship award programme of the Association, the Gong Gong Awards would be held on October 1.

He said the awards would be part of a week-long Advertising Week Celebration to give members the opportunity to get together as an industry family.

He also encouraged members to enter and participate in other regional awards to win laurels for themselves, saying: “Non-interest in awards suggests that we are content to be without a push for excellence.”

Mr Nettey said the AAG is liaising with organisers of other global and regionally recognised awards to open up to members.

On interest in AAG affairs, Mr Nettey called on members to show commitment towards the Association at all times and not only when they run into difficulties.

“This is an Association of equals and the only way for it to grow is for all members, corporate and individual to get involved and to contribute ideas, thoughts, resources and everything else to the Association for our mutual benefit.”

He urged the members to offer themselves to serve on the various committees to bring their inputs to help improve the Association.

On training, Mr Nettey said the AAG secretariat would hold series of local training programmes from August 2 to September 22, aimed at upgrading the human resource base in preparation for the licensing regime.

He said the courses would be institutionalised and lead to the set-up of the Institute of advertising and the provision on proper certification for all courses.

Mr Nettey said while the industry is facing challenges due to economic difficulties, members are committed to making steady progress and called for individual and collective efforts.