By: Deborah Amewoy
Ghanaian onion seller at one of Ghana’s famous markets centers Makola has served a suit to Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited (Telecel Ghana) over the usage of her image for an advertisement without her consent.
The suit filed by lawyer for the plaintiff, Bernard Owiredu Donor presented that in February, 2025, her client, Faustina Gjagbele Abbey started receiving comments from her customers regarding her appearance on billboards, traditional media and social media due to her well known personality.
The plaintiff, who is a mother of 3 during the same period started receiving amusing comments from her neighbors and church members for her appearance in the advertisement.
To add to it, her colleague market women started to requesting from her, huge sums of money indicating that she was now a “rich woman” due to Telecel’s actions.
Due to the uncomfortable nature of the comments and requests, the plaintiff who decided to probe into these sudden occurrences realized that her photograph have been used to advertise Telecel Red Save – “a digital savings accounts within telecel cash platform which allows users to save money and earn interest.”
The plaintiff has stated vehemently that her image has been exploited without her valid consent and this counters on her privacy and personal space further inconveniencing her on several occasions.
Madam Faustina is hereby seeking that Telecel Ghana declares that her right to privacy and personal space have been infringed upon through the use of her photograph without valid consent, a GH￠2 million worth compensation paid her by Telecel and the immediate removal of any form of advertisement with her image across the various marketing channels stated earlier in this writing.
Telecel Ghana in response acknowledged the suit and promises further investigations into the case. “We are currently reviewing the details of this claim to
establish the facts. We wish to assure the public that
we take matters of privacy, imagery consent and
intellectual property seriously” it noted in a press release.
