After nearly a decade of chasing and following celebrities around as work—and having done PR for several celebrities, I still seem lost with the concept of promo photos when it comes to our Ghanaian Celebrities…

Interestingly, each week I get some tacky lingerie or badly photo-shopped photos from at least one Ghanaian female celebrity with the heading; Promo Photos.  Mostly, a meaningless paragraph is written to go with these photos which fail to state what the photos are promoting—and at this point, we can all make assumptions from looking at some of the photos what is being promoted.

Without any imminent work to be released and a well branded personality to be promoted, some of our female celebrities pose in sexually provoking manner, equating their career/status to that of porn stars if you have no prior knowledge of what they claim to do. And the little paragraph they add to these pictures does nothing more than to sell their bodies.

Don’t get me wrong. The concept of ‘promo photos’ is a perfect advertisement scheme employed mostly by entertainers and the hospitality industry to throw attention to projects, services or soon to be released products. But when there is nothing at stake to be promoted except some lousy photoshop images and ‘butt in the air’ postures which only help define you as an individual selling your body than anything else, then there is a problem.

As the Editor of GhanaCelebrities.Com, I run several promo photos ahead of interviews. For instance, any time we interview a celebrity, we take several great shots and before the interview is published, we post these photos to whet the appetite of our readers in relation to the pending interview. That is a perfectly promo photo concept.

If a musician has an album, single, wedding or any project coming up, that musician can justifiably release some NEAT promo photos to bring attention to the pending cause—and it must be noted that, the photos must reflect the cause or seek to do so.

What we see in Ghana are shameless photos without any accompanying text to even indicate what is being promoted—where our celebrities open their legs wide for cameras in the name of promo.

And amusingly, why is it that most of these wrongly circulated promo photos are from our female celebrities? It brings me to the question; what is genuinely being promoted here? What is the difference between these promo photos and those being released each day by adult entertainers who seek to solely promote their bodies?

Even if there is nothing substantive out there to be promoted and you want the constant media attention or hype as a celebrity, must the photos be ratchet?

Editors and writers will help you promote your absurdity and ignorance—they are not under any obligation to define your limits and brand for you.  And that is why each person has a mind of his own to be able to evalute situations and make the right decision.

Publicity is great but the question remains; what is the object of the publicity? Sometimes, it is far better to let your work and brand do the talking. Spending money in studios to take photos to promote NOTHING/ your body when you should be out there looking for work or cramming to better your craft only highlights the sort of baloney you have plugged your mind into.

I don’t mind being paid to help spread your absurdity as a celebrity but at all times, I will be truthful and tell you what the score is and remains—especially if I like you 🙂