- CAPPA Launches Smoke Free Nollywood Campaign
Nigerian old smokers have continued to take their exit after years of battling life-long tobacco-related ailments, but the consistent battle for the tobacco multinationals has been how to get them replaced. Movies and music videos have become the “most veritable tools” for the tobacco industry to initiate a new generation of smokers in Nigeria, an anti-tobacco group — Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has said.
CAPPA observed that while the multi-billion dollar Nigerian entertainment industry has continued to record successes around the world, breaking into new frontiers, it has also become the target of tobacco industry to promote its deadly wares, enticing young people and making them to lose their innocence.
“Art is life, tobacco is death!”
Executive Director, CAPPA, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi said at an event organized in Lagos over the weekend to flag off #smokefreenollywood campaign.
“The tobacco industry uses many seemingly harmless channels to addict the youth.
“The tobacco industry has a track record of giving misleading impression of tobacco use. Through movies and music videos it has continued to entice and addict young persons,” Oluwafemi added, noting that Nigeria, despite ratifying the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the country has failed to implement the letters of its own laws, hence the heavy promotion of tobacco scenes in entertainment content.
The anti-tobacco group said in 2007, a screening of 10 randomly selected movies by tobacco control activists in Nigeria showed that “the tobacco industry might have been using Nollywood to promote tobacco smoking. The ten movies screened at the time were Million Dollar Sisters, Fatal Seduction, Battle for Battle, Holy warden, GL2, Virgin Heart, Games Angel Play, War Game, Living in Pain and My Own Share.”
In the screened movies, tobacco smoking was said to have been portrayed to be widespread, socially acceptable, desirable, and classy, despite its life-long damage to human health, something which the tobacco manufacturers themselves have owned up to.
“There were instances of brand placements in GL2, Million Dollar Sisters, Virgin Heart, Fatal Seduction, Battle for Battle and War Game where British American Tobacco’s Benson and Hedges and London were the culprit.” CAPPA stated.
While the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act passed in 2015 and the National Tobacco Control Regulations 2019 contain provisions prohibiting tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships in movies and entertainment, with some exceptions, the group lamented that the enforcement of the various laws by government agencies regulating the tobacco industry and entertainment sector has been dragging in the country.
The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) is the agency saddled with the implementation of the ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships. However, CAPPA alleged that despite APCON’s key responsibility, heavy advertisement of tobacco is still ongoing in Nigeria in contrary to the NTC Act.
Sec. 12 (1) of the 2015 NTC Act, defines “tobacco advertising and promotion” to include “any form of commercial communication, recommendation, or action with the aim, effect, or likely effect of promoting a tobacco product or tobacco use directly or indirectly,” and adds that, “no person shall promote or advertise tobacco or tobacco products in any form.”
The CAPPA Director who called on government to wake up to its role and stop misleading tobacco ads from making it to the Nigerian entertainment content, also demanded a great sense of responsibility from entertainment stakeholders who have far-reaching influence on young people, if not cult followership.
On his own part, popular Nollywood actor and broadcaster, Mr Jide Alabi, while giving a remark at the event said it always comes to him as a rude shock that people have continued to use a product that the manufacturer has said will kill them.
The actor who expressed support for the CAPPA’s campaign on ending smoking in Nollywood said he has never puffed at a cigarette.
“I have never smoked in my life, I have never tasted a beer, I don’t know how I did it. But I considered myself very lucky,” Alabi made the revelation as the audience listened with admiration.
Advancing its campaign’s recommendations, CAPPA said there should be adult rating for films with smoking scenes; A requirement on strong anti-smoking advertisements shown before the start of films, TV or online programs containing tobacco products; Smoking scenes should be required to carry a rolling banner of text health warning; Certification that no payments have been received by studios or producers for depicting tobacco use in the movies and ending the onscreen depiction of actual tobacco brands.
Other recommendations by the group include stopping tobacco brand identification or the presence of tobacco brand imagery (such as billboards, umbrellas, cars etc) in the background of any movie scene and the implementation of the WHO-FCTC comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising sponsorships and promotion.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. It’s a risk factor for several non-communicable diseases including cancers, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes mellitus, and chronic respiratory sicknesses among others.
According to the WHO, tobacco kills as much as six million people annually, and is projected to kill as much as 8 million people by the year 2030, if countries fail to implement drastic measures to stop the grim reaper.
