The police Leadership has condemned in the strongest terms the use of its traffic image on a commercial juice advert called ‘JESA JUS’ that appears on television with a description of a traffic police officer.
According to the Police spokesperson the TV advert suggests that, during a routine traffic enforcement activity, a driver stopped for inspection and immediately compromised the officer with a packet of JESA JUS’
“The Advert made reference to the traffic police as being corrupt and easily bribed by JESA JUS’ in front of the children and the officer let them off the hook,” Enanga said.
In a police statement released on March 11, 2024, Enanga said that the Advert draws a link between the traffic officer, driver, and the children, depicting the officer as corrupt and the driver and children as traffic violators.
Enanga also noted that these adverts promote acts of bribery and suggests that, the police can easily be compromised and one can easily buy their way out whenever they break the traffic offense.
He advised that these paint negative perceptions of children against the police, saying that, the appearance of a look-alike traffic officer and the use of a police uniform without the permission of the Inspector General of Police is strictly prohibited since it is fully gazetted.
“As a result, Police demand that the commercial firm pull out the traffic police advert content and halt any further displays on TV, radios, and other digital platforms, failure to do so will call for sanction in the civil court of law by the directorate of legal and human rights services,” Enanga said.
Police advised all intending marketers and advert producers to always seek authorization for the usage of police images and content before producing commercial adverts.