I’ve always ‘envied’ western celebrities for one reason and that is, despite the huge amount of cash they have, they never really pay for anything—mostly, people offer them certain luxuries like free hotel accommodation, flights, designer wears and even exotic holidays.

My envy springs from the fact that, they never really have to pay for anything even though they are stinking rich. However, ordinary Kojos and Arabas like me with not much sitting in our bank accounts have to pay for everything. Who actually needs freebies? The broke individuals or the millionaires…? But that is the world we live in!

Interestingly and probably unknown to many of our Ghanaian Celebrities that most of their western counterparts do not pay for their ‘exorbitant lifestyles’, our celebrities have plunged themselves into this sort of class race—sitting in Accra and wanting to live like Kim Kardashian or Jay-Z.

Prior to Lupita Nyongo’s recent Oscar appearance, it emerged that several of the world’s expensive gown designers flooded her with their dresses for free—hoping she will just choose to wear their brands to the prestigious awards. At the end of the day, she rocked a stunning sky blue Prada dress and I will not be shocked if on top of it being a freebie, Prada even paid her to wear the dress.

Meanwhile, back home in Ghana, upon seeing Lupita’s freely acquired beautiful dress, some of our celebrities will be scheming through different means and tunnels, so to wear Prada or repeat the Oscar de la Renta that Halle Berry recently wore for one of our red carpet events.

I’ve come across Kim Kardashian and some western celebrities occasionally showing off a watch, a hotel they stayed in, a gym and sometimes even a drink. The hidden truth behind most of these social media exhibitions is that, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Rihanna and the rest who engage in these activities are mostly PAID to do so—subtle advertisement for these brands. Though such conducts are regarded as unethical with UK advertising regulators recently requesting that celebrities who engage in these promotions should let their fans understand they’ve received some sort of compensation for their tweets, Instagram or facebook posts, some of the celebrities continue to ignore this requirement.

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