According to the Authority, a lot of advertisers were not respecting the guidelines on advertisement.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FDA, Dr Delese A.A. Darko, who made the call in Accra on Wednesday said it was important for industry players to follow the consolidated guidelines as advertisements.

She added that advertisement had the power to influence consumers’ choices as well as the public health outcome of those choices.

“Advertising guidelines must uphold ethical standards and align with ethical requirements, providing clear direction to help meet all stakeholders confidently and allow them to meet their regulatory requirements and obligations,’’ she said.

The consolidated guidelines, she said, brought together requirement for several product categories ranging from cosmet­ics to medical substances in relation to their advertisement.

Additionally, Dr Darko explained that the consolidated guidelines had not been designed to stifle creativity but to thrive in a space where the public was “in­formed, protected, and respected.”

She said that some of the core values that the consolidated guidelines sought to promote, were “truthfulness and ethical standards” that aligned with clear regulatory directions.

“Strong advertising guidelines are not about control. They are about building trust . When consumers believe that a brand prioritises their well-being, they respond with loyalty and confidence,” Dr Darko said.

Dr Darko reaffirmed the commit­ment of the Authority to responsible advertisements that were impactful and promote public health and safety.

For her part, Mrs Rhoda Ewurabena Appiah, the head of Communications and Public Education, FDA, in an inter­view with journalists, said that the Au­thority had been able to settle on some areas for improvement in the advertising space following the consolidation of the guidelines after engagements with the stakeholders over the past month.

Among the areas, she said, were the approval of an advertisement where industry players would now have a two-year option to have their advertise­ments approved instead of the one year approval.

Mrs Appiah noted that the FDA had decided on a scheme to ensure that all created advertisement content uploaded on social media were regulated.

“We didn’t have a strict regulation or clear guideline on how to regulate content creation and uploads on social media. This is a place that is fluid, and people will always want to churn out content.

As a result of this engagement, we have decided on a certain scheme where you do not need application for each content, but rather there is a way you can lump all your promotional campaign documents for the year and present it to the FDA,” Mrs Appiah said.

She noted that failure to adhere to the consolidated guidelines would attract various sanctions, including prosecution under the Public Health Act.