LAST week we wrote an editorial on a rather loathsome occurrence that happened on Easter Monday at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. This was a bitter after-taste that rocked the nation on Easter Monday when pictures of several young people dead-drunk overnight at the stadium went viral on social media after the Adonko Bitters Aseda Bash.
IT was indeed a shameful spectacle which saw future leaders of this country lying on the floor scattered across perimeters of the stadium dead-drunk all because organisers of the event forsook their core sense of decency.
WHAT was supposed to have been a music concert brazenly turned into a youth-wrecking disaster. This was so, simply because the organisers of the event enticed the youth with a free entry only on condition that each bought a bottle of Adonko Bitters (an alcoholic drink, manufactured by Angel Group of Companies).
IN the said editorial comment, we totally condemned the conduct of the organisers, and called on the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to investigate the reason behind the branding of the social event at the stadium and the free gifts that followed.
WE are happy to learn that FDA took the matter up and has instituted punitive action against the manufacturers of Adonko Bitters. In a press release issued by FDA on Friday, April 28, 2017 the state regulatory agency sanctioned Angel Group of Companies.
ACCORDING to FDA, the development, which saw the alcoholic beverage (Adonko Bitters), being sold to minors, which also saw the excessive intake of the drink, contravened Section 3.2.19 of the FDA Guidelines for the Advertisement of Food products which states that “No alcoholic beverage shall be advertised in relation to a public function where persons under the legal drinking age are likely to attend.”
FURTHER, the FDA release stated that the “Company also contravened Section 3.2.12 of the FDA Guidelines for the Advertisement of Food products which prohibits the use of well-known personalities in the marketing of alcoholic beverages by engaging Shatta Wale and Bisa Kdei in the promotion programme.”
THE above acts, according to the regulatory agency, put patrons of the said event at serious health risks. In the wake of that the FDA directed that Angel Group of Companies recall the Adonko Bitters from the market, and furnish it with the recall plan. The company was also slapped with an administrative fine of GHC25,000.00.
IT is obvious from the above that the organisers of the concert acted irresponsibly. And that the overriding motive behind the event was nothing short of reaping huge profits, even if it meant putting the lives of patrons at high risk.
WE hope other manufacturers, especially those who produce alcoholic beverages in the country, will take a cue from the unfortunate Adonko Bitters Easter Monday bash and the subsequent sanctions applied by the FDA. Today expects manufacturers of alcoholic drinks in the country to know the limit at which they can go with the selling of their products which consumption is not suitable for everybody.
ON that score we at Today commend the FDA for its swift action on manufacturers of Adonko Bitters which event at the stadium left sour grapes in the mouths of many well-meaning Ghanaians. We believe that we can make progress and consumers can rest assured of their protection by regulators in instances where manufacturers flout the laws.
WE take this opportunity to urge the state regulator and indeed all other regulators to continue to look out for the safety and protection of consumers and punish those manufacturers and producers who seek to promote their business interests without recourse to the effects of their actions and inactions on consumers. The law should be seen to be working.
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