An Abuja-based human rights lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, says celebrities promoting fraudulent businesses as brand ambassadors risk prosecution and conviction in the court of law.
He made this known in a statement, while advising celebrities to do thorough checks before accepting mouth-watering endorsement offers of any corporate entity.
Olajengbesi said relying on the endorsement by celebrities including skitmakers, actors and actresses, “many innocent members of the public believe and act on the representation of the so-called celebrity and many times, suffer grievous damages to their health or risk the loss of their funds as a result of believing the brands which are led up in economic crashes”.
The statement added, “By virtue of investing in an organisation which a celebrity Brand Ambassador had advertised and held out as genuine, members of the public become victims of misplaced trust.
“In view of this, it is essential that both the Brand Ambassadors and the general public understand their duties and liabilities under the extant laws.
“To start with, a person found wanting in this regard may be guilty of misrepresentation. From whatever angle one looks at the capacity of those advertising on behalf of the organisation; Brand Ambassadors, Face of Organisation, promoter or agent, one thing is certain; they are making representations to the public and should the representations turn out to be the adverse of what they represented, they shall be held liable for misrepresentation.
“A Brand Ambassador shoulders the responsibility which is in tandem with the responsibility of a promoter. By virtue of Section 61 and 62 of the Company and Allied Matters Act, their liability is not only to the public but even to the organisation they represent.
“In a similar view, under both Criminal and Penal Codes, whoever induces another to do what they wouldn’t have wilfully done is said to have committed cheating if such inducement resulted in the loss of pecuniary or proprietary rights. See Section 320 1(b) of Penal Code.
“Consequently, it goes without saying that a celebrity who holds himself out as an agent, promoter or ambassador of a company and misled members of the society to believe in a state of affairs which turn out false, is guilty and liable upon conviction. It is not a defence that the so-called ambassador had a good motive, what the law looks into is the existence of a wrongful misrepresentation which the public acted upon and which resulted in damages.
“While we encourage the ambassadors and promoters of corporate organisations and business entities to conduct proper investigation to ascertain the quality and genuineness of whatever product they intend to promote, we equally call on members of the society to be awake to their rights under the extant laws and start holding companies and their agents responsible and liable for representations which eventually have adverse effect on innocent citizens who are struggling economically just to keep body and soul together.”