Condom ads stir passionate debate

Efforts to promote condom use in Nigeria could be threatened when the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice starts being more strictly enforced on 1 July this year. Unhappy with current condom awareness campaigns, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the statutory body charged with vetting and approving advertisements, has begun cracking down on advertisers. Citing the code, Panel Chairman Emmanuel Ekuno warned against condom advertisements that might encourage indecency, or which in any way dramatised, depicted or insinuated a sexual act by use of word, graphics, sound or action. All condom advertisements are required to carry health warnings, may not be aired on children's programmes, before 8.00 pm on radio and television, or displayed on billboards near places of worship, schools and hospitals. APCON's directive on stricter enforcement has not gone down well with HIV/AIDS activists, who argue that it could be counterproductive to the success achieved in promoting the use of condoms. The National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA), the Society for Family Health (SFH) and other NGOs have all advertised condom use on billboards and in print and broadcast media as part of their prevention efforts. Activists have slammed the APCON decision, saying it was wrong and hypocritical of APCON to suggest that advertising condoms could promote promiscuity, especially when a large number of young people were finding it difficult to abstain from sex. HIV-positive activist Ibrahim Umoru, who is also a peer educator for the medical humanitarian organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, (MSF) in the port city of Lagos, told PlusNews that the directive would negatively effect ongoing campaigns. "Our society is full of deceit and denial. Whether we like it or not, there is an explosion of sexual [activity] ... among the youths, who have refused to zip up. Unless we have the key to their zips it will be wrong to curtail the advertisement of condoms in any way," he commented. "There is acute information deficiency in the country about HIV/AIDS, and we should not take any action that will deny people, irrespective of their age, the information they need to take the right decision about their lives," Umoru warned. In Nigeria schools and places of worship can be situated anywhere - in houses, shops and even in the open air - so banning billboards near such institutions might amount to a total ban. "What APCON must realise is that billboards are not only meant for students alone but [also for] the general public who either live or work near such institutions" he pointed out. Executive Director of Media Concern for Women and Children, Princess Olufemi Kayode, also found fault with the directive, noting that as much as there was a need not to promote sexual promiscuity, the level of sexual activity among the youth was alarming. "We go around giving sexuality education to students and what we find is mind boggling, concerning how early young people are either getting involved in sex or have been abused by their elders, who take advantage of their ignorance. Bisi Aborishade, Editor-in-Chief of HIV/AIDS information portal NigeriaHIVinfo.com, argued that the rate of HIV infection did not justify any limitation on promoting the use of condoms. "Everywhere you turn - on radio, television and music - there is sex, so what can be achieved by regulating condom adverts?" Aborishade wondered. NACA communication specialist Sam Archibong admitted that APCON's directive might affect those involved in the production and sale of condoms, but said his agency would comply with the directive to avoid being labelled as an organisation that promoted promiscuity. "We cannot afford to be involved in debating a matter like this, considering that we are also promoting abstinence and mutual fidelity," he explained. "It is a sensitive issue and we want to respect everybody's view on the matter."