Drop ban on celebrities advertising for alcoholic beverages – Shatta Wale to FDA

Controversial dancehall artiste Charles Nii Armah Mensah, also known as Shatta Wale, is calling on other musicians in Ghana to come together and protest the ban placed on them by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Gaming Commission of Ghana to advertise for alcoholic beverages.

The FDA in 2015 banned Ghanaian celebrities from advertising alcoholic beverages.

According to the regulator, the ban was in adherence to a World Health Organisation policy.

It also said the decision was part of efforts to protect children and prevent them from being lured into alcoholism.

Shatta Wale in a live Facebook video on Wednesday, October 14 urged all the creative arts industry players to support him to compel the regulator to scrap the laws, banning them from advertising for betting companies and alcohol beverages.

“Those in the creative act industry should wake and stand against the ban of advertising for alcoholic drinks and sports betting. This is very sad but it will not affect me but rather other people in the industry,” he said.

He went on further to say, “Actors, actress and anybody in the creative arts industry will lose a lot if this ban is not lifted. Ghanaian celebrities should wake up and talk against some laws of the FDA and the Gaming Commission.”

“We as a nation should change the way we do our things sometime, because it is not everything that will help us as we are going forward as individuals,” he added