How to Advertise Health and Beauty Products in Ghana Without Getting Banned

If you sell skincare, herbal medicine, supplements, fitness programmes or run a clinic, advertising online is harder for you than for a shoe shop. Your adverts are checked against two sets of rules. Meta has its own health and wellness policy. Ghana's Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has the law behind it.

Get either one wrong and the cost is high. A rejected advert is a lost week. A restricted ad account can stop your online sales completely. An unapproved advert for a regulated product puts you on the wrong side of the FDA.

The good news: businesses that follow the rules can face less competition over time, because the ones that don't tend to get shut down. This guide covers what each set of rules asks for and how to sell hard within them. For the general mistakes that get any advert rejected, read Meta ad policy mistakes first.

Which health and beauty businesses does this apply to?

Anyone whose product touches the body or health. That includes:

• Skincare, haircare, body creams, soaps and cosmetics
• Herbal medicines, teas, bitters and tonics
• Food supplements, vitamins and weight management products
• Gyms, personal trainers and fitness programmes
• Clinics, spas, aesthetic and cosmetic procedure providers
• Pharmacies and medical device sellers

If you are not sure whether your product counts, assume it does and check.

What does Ghana's FDA require before you advertise?

Start here, because Meta's approval doesn't make an advert legal in Ghana.

Section 114 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851) says you can't advertise a drug, herbal product, cosmetic, medical device or household chemical as a treatment or cure unless the FDA has approved the advertisement. The same section also bars advertising products for certain listed diseases.

The FDA's current guidelines for advertisement of regulated products cover alcoholic beverages, energy drinks, sweet beverages, orthodox medicines, herbal and homeopathic medicines, food supplements, medical devices, cosmetics and household chemicals, whether made in Ghana or imported. Advertising tobacco and infant formula is banned outright.

What this means in practice:

1. Register the product first. An unregistered product has nothing to advertise legally.
2. Get the advert itself approved where the guidelines require it. Approval is for the advertisement, not just the product.
3. Keep the approved claims consistent. If the FDA approved "supports healthy digestion", don't run "cures ulcers" on Instagram.

Read the guidelines for your product category, and if you are unsure, ask the FDA before you spend on adverts.

What does Meta's health and wellness policy say?

Meta's health and wellness policy is specific. The points that catch most Ghanaian businesses:

• Age targeting. Adverts promoting dietary, health or weight loss products must be targeted to people at least 18 years old. So must adverts for cosmetic products, procedures and surgeries.
• No pinched fat. Weight loss adverts can't show close-ups of a body part with fat being pinched.
• No attacks on appearance. Ads can't contain statements of inferiority about physical appearance: negative terms, descriptions or questions that attack someone's appearance, body parts or hygiene.
• No negative self-perception or "perfect body" messaging to sell diet, weight loss, cosmetic or health products.
• Before-and-after photos are allowed for general cosmetics, aimed at adults. Meta lists "general cosmetic products, procedures, surgeries depicting before and after transformation" among adverts it permits for people aged 18 and over.

On top of this sits the personal attributes rule that applies to every advert: you can't assert or imply something about the viewer's health. Meta's own example of a banned line is "Depression getting you down? Get help now."

How do I make health claims without breaking the rules?

Sell the product, its ingredients, its process and its proof. Don't sell a diagnosis of the reader.

These are our own example rewrites. The pattern is the same each time: remove the "you have a problem" framing, remove the promise you can't prove, and replace them with what the product is, what's in it and why it can be trusted.

What proof can health and beauty brands use?

Proof often sells better than promises anyway, so this is where compliant brands can win.

• Registration and approval. "FDA-registered" can be one of the most persuasive things a Ghanaian skincare or supplement brand can say, because many buyers know not every product is.
• Ingredients and process. Show what's in the product and how it's made.
• Qualified people. For clinics, the qualifications of the doctors and therapists.
• Real reviews, used with permission. Focus them on experience ("arrived well packed, feels light on the skin") rather than medical outcomes. See customer reviews and testimonials.
• Demonstrations. How the product feels, how to apply it, what the clinic looks like inside.

Should I use before-and-after pictures?

For general cosmetics such as skincare or makeup, Meta allows before-and-after images in adverts targeted to adults. Use real, unedited pictures of real customers with their permission, and make sure they show a realistic result.

For weight loss, our advice is no. Before-and-after weight loss images sit right on the line Meta draws around negative self-perception and body image, and the risk to your account outweighs the extra clicks. Show the programme, the coach, the community and the food instead.

Never use AI-generated or edited before-and-after pictures. They mislead customers, and misleading claims are exactly what both Meta and the FDA act on. Read more in honest AI advertising.

How should clinics and fitness businesses target adverts?

Set the minimum age to 18 for anything involving weight, diet, health products or cosmetic procedures. Then let the creative do the targeting. A video of a dermatologist explaining a treatment will find people interested in that treatment without you naming their condition in the copy. We explain why creative now drives targeting in Meta's Andromeda update.

Common questions

Can I advertise herbal medicine on Facebook in Ghana?

You can advertise registered herbal products, but if the advert presents the product as a treatment or cure, it needs FDA approval under Act 851. On Meta, you also can't imply the viewer has a condition.

Do I need FDA approval for a skincare advert?

Cosmetics are covered by the FDA's advertising guidelines. If your advert makes any treatment claim, get approval before it runs. Check the current guidelines for your product.

Can I target teenagers with skincare adverts?

On Meta, adverts for cosmetic products and procedures, and for dietary, health and weight loss products, must be targeted to people aged 18 or older. Meta exempts products marketed for general wellbeing from that age rule, but if you're unsure which side your product falls on, target adults.

My competitor makes huge claims and still runs adverts. Why can't I?

Adverts can run for a while before review catches them, and Meta keeps reviewing adverts after they go live. Accounts that break the rules repeatedly get restricted. Building on rule-breaking copy means building on something that can disappear overnight.

Grow a health or beauty brand on solid ground

We write and run adverts for health and beauty businesses that sell hard and stay within Meta's rules, and we check your existing adverts for anything that puts your account at risk. Start with an ad audit or see our Facebook and Instagram adverts service. For industry guides, read marketing for clinics in Ghana and marketing for fashion and beauty brands.