Have you ever wondered why a celebrity would create a particular outlandish hair style or clothing design and within a short time it becomes a trend? Musicians concoct terms and in the twinkle of an eye, it is all over the country. The ‘showbizer’ is very powerful!
Therefore, if there any social ills that need to be fought, it is prudent to use someone whose life can serve as the near-best model. For instance, if you want to advise young people to stop smoking, you use a celebrity who has been involved in the act before and has stopped – not one that still lives in it.
I chanced on a news report by starrfmonline.com that says that controversial Ghanaian diva, Belinda Nana Ekua Amoah popularly known as Mzbel, has expressed regret for bleaching, but she says that she is unable to quit due to the side effects.
“According to her, anytime she attempts to quit she gets patches on her face and other parts of her skin, which forces her to go back,” the story states.
In the interview she reveals that she began bleaching her skin, in her teen years, because in Jamestown (a suburb of Accra) where she grew up, bleaching was the norm and added that she spends over 1,000 Ghana Cedis every three weeks for the bleaching cream that keeps her skin in shape.
“Attempts to stop bleaching [have] been very difficult, as the side effects are so clear when I make the attempt…I am able to afford the cream because I have a job that pays well,” she had said in the said interview with Starr FM’s Francis Abban.
She added: “I regret ever bleaching. I wish I never did bleach. I wish I had someone advising me.”
Now what is heartrending is where she discloses that she now has a foundation through which she advises teenagers against skin bleaching and teenage pregnancy and whenever she gets the opportunity to go to Jamestown to do charity work, she talks about teenage pregnancy, and skin bleaching and she always uses herself as an example.
Example? Honestly, you cannot be bleaching and be advising someone to stop bleaching, at the same time. Mzbel is not in the right position to advise anybody to stop bleaching until she has stopped bleaching. She’s not a testimony!
So what would she tell the ‘skin bleachers’ who have also tried to stop bleaching, but fear that they may have patches on their skin? They should quit while she ‘enjoys’ it?
Mzbel should know that if she wants to be a change agent, she must be a good one. The revelation she has made in this interview is enough to actually encourage people to bleach.
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