Ban on celebrity endorsement of alcohol has maintained sanity on our screens – FDA

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has said its ban on the endorsement of alcoholic beverages by Ghanaian celebrities has brought sanity into the country’s advertising space.

According to FDA, the ban has contributed to the reduction in the exposure of the country’s youth to alcohol.

Speaking in an interview with Nana Romeo on Accra FM's Ayekoo Ayeeko show on Tuesday, 9 March 2021, the Chief Regulatory Officer, Food Industrial Support Service Department of the FDA, Mr. Kofi Essel, said:

“It has cut down the exposure of our youth to alcoholic beverages.”

He noted that the "messages that were associated with it [alcoholic beverages] made it look like these persons [celebrities] themselves are regular users of it, is exposed. It was pure marketing".

“It does not give a guarantee that they are users of the product.”

He added: “Particularly, it’s brought sanity into the advertising arena.

“There were too many things going on.”

The FDA, in 2020, prohibited celebrities from advertising or endorsing alcoholic beverages.

Although some celebrities kicked against the move, the ban was maintained and it is still in force.