The Director of Legal Affairs of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Joseph Yaw Bernie, has announced that if unknown people are employed in alcoholic beverage commercials and then become popular, the companies will be barred from using them again.
He was reacting to the Supreme Court’s 5-2 majority decision to affirm the ban on celebrities from advertising alcoholic beverages.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the FDA’s guidelines, which were established in 2016, prohibiting celebrities from participating in alcohol advertisement campaigns were not in breach of the constitution.
The manager of the musical duo Reggie N. Bollie, Mr. Mark Darlington Osae, filed a suit in court challenging the directive.
He argued that the directive unfairly discriminates against celebrities and violates the constitution.
He was seeking an interpretation of articles 17(1) and 17(2) of the constitution, hoping for an injunction against the FDA’s directive on the grounds of discrimination.
But the court, by a majority decision, dismissed the case affirming that the directive by the FDA was in order.
Joseph Benneh, Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs at FDA, told Kwabena Agyapong on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM that the decision by the court was in the national interest.
When confronted with the situation of an unknown person becoming famous after an advertisement, he stated that the individual will no longer be allowed to promote for alcoholic beverages because he or she has become a celebrity as a result of the advertisement that propelled them to fame.
“That is the interpretation. It can be likened to a car having a faulty tyre while driving on the highway. When you realise the tyre is faulty, you will change it. In the same way, if you use an unknown person for an advertisement and the person becomes famous, you can no longer use the person. If the person is not well known and, with time, fits into the description of being well known, he or she would have to leave that space. That is what it is, he stated.
He stressed that the ban was to protect our youth from alcohol abuse, and therefore the decision by the court was a victory for all.
“This ruling by the Supreme Court confirms that the directive we gave was constitutional. So, if you believe you are a man or a woman and intend to break the law, the law will take its course,” he said.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
