CAPPA Urges Policymakers to Regulate Festive Food Marketing in Public Interest

The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called on Nigerian policymakers to urgently regulate the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages, warning that weak oversight is allowing corporate interests to undermine public health, particularly during festive periods.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos while presenting a new report titled Unhealthy Food Hijack of Festive Periods in Nigeria, CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said incremental policy responses were no longer sufficient given Nigeria’s rising burden of non-communicable diseases.

Oluwafemi noted that food and beverage companies increasingly exploit festive periods such as Christmas and New Year to aggressively promote sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods, embedding them in cultural and religious celebrations through advertising, sponsorships, and branded donations.

He warned that reliance on industry self-regulation has failed, describing it as largely cosmetic and ineffective in protecting consumers, especially children and low-income communities who are most exposed to festive marketing campaigns.

He urged the Federal Government and relevant regulatory agencies to introduce comprehensive, legally binding restrictions on the advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of unhealthy food and beverage products, particularly during festive seasons.

According to Oluwafemi, such regulations should cover digital platforms, outdoor advertising, broadcast media, point-of-sale promotions, and influencer and celebrity endorsements, where children and young people are likely to be exposed.

The Executive Director also appealed to policymakers to prohibit branded corporate social responsibility activities by food and beverage companies in schools, religious institutions, markets, and other community spaces, arguing that such practices amount to indirect advertising disguised as charity.

He further called for a strengthened sugar-sweetened beverage tax set at 50 percent of retail price, with revenues transparently dedicated to non-communicable disease prevention, treatment, and health system strengthening.

Oluwafemi stressed that policy without enforcement would be ineffective, urging government to adequately fund regulatory agencies and impose deterrent sanctions, including fines, licence suspensions, and public disclosure of violators.

While presenting a summary of the organisation’s findings, CAPPA’s Industry Monitoring Officer, Humphrey Ukeaja, said the study revealed widespread and coordinated marketing of sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods during the 2025 Christmas and 2026 New Year festivities.

He said the study tracked marketing activities between November 25, 2025, and January 5, 2026, across digital platforms and public spaces. CAPPA monitored campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X, reviewed press releases, and deployed field teams to malls, parks, markets, transport hubs, churches and event venues in Lagos, Abuja, Onitsha and Ibadan.

According to Ukeaja, the findings showed a highly synchronised use of online and offline promotions to flood festive spaces with branding for unhealthy foods and beverages, deliberately linking them to joy, generosity, faith and togetherness.

The report documented the use of cartoon characters, Santa-themed promotions, free samples, school donations and youth-focused music events to normalise consumption of sugary and salty products among children and young people.

CAPPA also raised concerns over the use of corporate social responsibility activities as disguised advertising, with heavily branded product donations to schools, churches and low-income communities embedding unhealthy foods into everyday social and religious life.

Digitally, companies relied on influencers, AI-generated content, scan-to-win promotions and hashtag challenges to blur the line between advertising and entertainment, allowing marketing to spread largely unchecked.

In her remarks, CAPPA’s Assistant Executive Director, Zikora Ibeh, highlighted what she described as deliberate corporate tactics that exploit children through “pester power” marketing.

She cited instances where children were denied access to recreational activities at festive venues unless parents purchased sugary drinks or ultra-processed foods, leaving families with little real choice.

“These are not free choices; they are engineered,” Ibeh said, noting that constant exposure in environments where healthier options are unavailable makes unhealthy products appear normal and desirable.

She stressed that while public education and orientation efforts are important, they are insufficient without strong regulation, calling for mandatory front-of-pack warning labels and stricter controls on festive food marketing.

CAPPA warned that without decisive government action, festive seasons would continue to deepen health inequalities and impose avoidable long-term costs on families and Nigeria’s healthcare system.