Use celebrities to rather educate youth on the dangers of alcohol – Wiyaala tells FDA

Ghanaian Afropop singer, Wiyaala has reacted to the controversy about the Food and Drug Authority’s decision to ban alcohol advertisement by celebrities.

Wiyaala expressed her reservations against the Authority’s directive insisting that it is not the right way to go.

She called on the FDA to rather use celebrities positively by means of educating the populace on the dangers of alcohol intake rather than an outright ban on advertisement.

“Instead of just banning it, use us to actually educate people on alcohol. Use as positively, they should not only look at the negatives. They can actually use celebrities to educate people on alcohol not just for consumption.

“They should think deep about it. Sometimes the solution is not just running away from it but tackle the problem and you will find good solutions,” Wiyaala said on The Afternoon Show on TV3, June 24.

Wiyaala contended that the FDA’s guideline is a bit vague and Ghanaians are not satisfied with the explanation of the directive.

Wiyaala emphasized that there is a clear distinction between promoting and influencing which she said has caused an ambiguity in the FDA’s directive.

She urged the Authority to rather set up rules and regulations rather than an outright ban as their directive stipulates.

“I personally don’t want to be a brand ambassador for alcohol because there’s a fine line between influence and promotion… influence is more of an action from my point and promoting is a more of a choice. FDA should really come out with rules and regulations instead of just banning. They should come up and just explain into details why,” she noted on Monday, June 24.

Background

The FDA in its guidelines for the Advertisement of Foods published on February 1, 2016 stipulates that “No well-known personality or professional shall be used in alcoholic beverage advertising.”

The authority explained that the guideline was necessary to prevent minors from being addicted to alcohol due to the influence of celebrities.

The FDA further noted that the ban was in adherence with a policy by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and also part of efforts to protect children and young ones from being lured into alcoholism.

However, a citizen Mark Darlington filed a suit against the FDA’s directive praying the Apex court to hold as unconstitutional the directive as it violated the right against discrimination as guaranteed by Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution.

But the Supreme court in a 5-2 majority decision on Wednesday, June 19 dismissed the case and upheld the FDA’s directive.

The court held that the directive by FDA was not unreasonable and excessive, adding that it didn’t contravene the provision of the constitution.