Historicity of electronic advertising in Ghana

Abstract

Radio and Television broadcasting and advertising have been practiced in Ghana from 1935 to date. However, there is not comprehensive documentation of its historicity in Ghana. The study aimed at documenting historicity of Radio and Television broadcasting and advertising in Ghana from 1935-2017, and the study area was Accra metropolis. A qualitative-historical design called „Retrospective-Present Design‟ was constructed for the study and a total of fourteen (14) organisations and nineteen (19) respondents were purposively selected for the study. Unstructured interviews, observation and document analyses were used to gather data which was analysed and discussed thematically. The results revealed that, Radio and Television broadcasting were introduced in the Gold Coast and Ghana in 1935 and 1965 respectively by GBC and Sir. Anold Hodson, Mr F. A. W. Byron and Jake Otanka Obetsibe Lamptey, GBC and Lintas advertising are the most iconic personalities and organisations in Ghana‟s electronic broadcasting and advertising. The liberalisation of the 1992 constitution and introduction of information communication technology in Ghana in the 1980s have improved the quality of local broadcast and advertising. It also emerged that, though Radio and Television advertising have impacted positively and negatively on Ghana‟s development, many challenges continue to militate against the industry. The study concluded that, globalisation, colonisation, international collaboration, urbanisation, good government policies and pressure from local enterprises ushered in electronic broadcasting and advertising in Ghana. It therefore recommends that, the icons of electronic broadcasting and advertising in Ghana must be commemorated and government must develop policies to curtail challenges in the industry to improve the practice and empower students and academia to monitor trends in the industry.