Gospel Singer Nacee fights the FDA’s prohibition on celebrities advertising alcohol.

Nacee the gospel performer, expressed his displeasure with the Food and Drugs Authority’s decision to prevent Ghanaian celebrities from marketing alcoholic beverages.

On United Showbiz on Saturday, November 18, 2023, Nacee asked why international personalities are permitted to market such things but local celebrities face constraints.

As a singer and music producer, Nacee underlined that even if lesser-known people are allowed to advertise, they may eventually achieve celebrity status. As a result, he contended that the celebrity ban would be counterproductive in the long run.

“The continuous posting of images and videos of people makes them famous.” “Nobody knew Michael Power until Guinness continued to promote his commercials,” he explained. “If we feature an ordinary person in ads and keep promoting the said ads, they will rise to become popular in a couple of months, so much that they may not be able to buy food from the roadside.”

“Surprisingly, we won’t let our local celebrities advertise, but our foreign counterparts are allowed to,” he concluded. It is important to control what we do, but it should not be discriminatory. It doesn’t make it logical that we prefer outsiders over ourselves. Stop starving ourselves while foreigners get the best deals.”

The FDA prohibited Ghanaian celebrities from advertising alcoholic beverages in 2015, citing World Health Organization policy.

According to the regulator, the decision was made as part of efforts to protect children and keep them from becoming addicted to alcohol.

Despite criticism and requests for reconsideration, Kofi Essel, the FDA’s Head of Industry Support Services, stated in an interview that the agency is unwilling to lift the restriction on well-known figures advocating alcoholic products.

“Well-known persons have the potential to influence their followers who are not legally permitted to possess alcohol or use alcohol,” he said. “Because of that guidelines have been set to guide operations of alcoholic beverage companies, including the advertisement of their products and this is the reason well-known persons are not allowed to endorse the products.”