Unhealthy Food Hijack of Festive Periods: CAPPA Advocates Tightening of Regulations on Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship

Nigerian authorities have been urged to introduce comprehensive and legally binding restrictions on the advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of unhealthy food and beverage products, particularly during festive periods. A nongovernmental organization – the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, which made the call, said self-regulation of the food and beverage industry has failed, or function largely as public relations tools rather than meaningful safeguards. CAPPA’s position is based on the outcome of a survey conducted during the recent end-of-year festive season, which shows how food and beverage companies hijacked the season to promote unhealthy sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods, through undue exploitation of the hi-impact marketing window. The survey covered the period from late November 2025, to early January 2026, and monitored marketing activities across physical spaces, such as malls, parks, open markets, transport hubs, places of worship, and across digital platforms. The findings reveal that operators in the food and beverage industry treat festive periods as opportunities to intensify brand visibility, associate unhealthy products with social meaning, and drive consumption at scale. CAPPA’s Industry Monitoring Officer, HUMPHREY UKEAJA, highlighted how the organization arrived at its conclusion during a news conference in Lagos to mark the launch of the “Unhealthy Food Hijack of Festive Periods in Nigeria” report, "We monitored and collected online adverts and posts, visited key public locations, reviewed news and press releases, and kept detailed field notes. Trained volunteers monitored brand and influencer activity across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X, capturing screenshots and public responses to Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year campaigns. Meanwhile, field teams visited high-traffic areas, including Ikeja City Mall, Jara Mall, Gbagada Park, major markets in Lagos, Abuja, Onitsha, and Ibadan, as well as transport hubs like Oshodi and Jibowu, and observed promotional setups around large churches and events" UKEAJA noted. He said "these efforts revealed how companies synchronized digital and physical promotions to deliver an overwhelming, emotionally charged push for sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods." In his remarks; AKINBODE OLUWAFEMI who is CAPPA’s Executive Director, said the survey equally amplifies the industry’s exploitation of corporate social responsibility as a marketing vehicle, with widely publicised and heavily branded donations to schools, churches, markets, and community organisations. OLUWAFEMI noted that “while such gifts are presented as acts of goodwill, such activities also functioned as advertising, embedding unhealthy products into everyday social and religious spaces and shielding companies from scrutiny by framing commercial promotion as charity.” He said festive-period marketing such as have been observed actively reshapes food norms at a time when consumption is already elevated, reinforcing dietary patterns that contribute to Nigeria’s growing burden of non-communicable diseases. “The impact is uneven. Children, young people, and low-income households are the most exposed and the least protected, yet they bear the highest health and financial costs when diet-related illnesses emerge,” OLUWAFEMI added. He noted that Nigeria was already facing a severe non-communicable disease crisis, adding that the rates of hypertension, stroke, heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes continue to rise, while access to diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care remains limited and expensive. “As ultra-processed foods increasingly displace traditional diets, households are pushed into cycles of illness, out-of-pocket health spending, and poverty. An underfunded health system absorbs the consequences of marketing decisions made in boardrooms. “In this context, festive marketing acts as a risk multiplier. Each season reinforces harmful consumption patterns and deepens future health costs. This is why today’s discussion is about whether Nigeria’s food environment is governed in the public interest or left to commercial priorities that externalise harm”, He further stated. Based on the findings, CAPPA makes the following recommendations. • First, Nigeria must introduce comprehensive and legally binding restrictions on the advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of unhealthy food and beverage products, particularly during festive periods. Industry self-regulation has failed. They have functioned largely as public relations tools rather than meaningful safeguards. • Advertising restrictions should cover digital platforms, outdoor advertising, broadcast media, point-of-sale marketing, and in-store promotions. This must include a ban on influencer marketing, celebrity endorsements, and algorithmically targeted advertising for unhealthy products, especially where children and young people are likely to be exposed. • Second, branded corporate social responsibility activities by food and beverage companies in schools, religious institutions, markets, and other public or community spaces should be prohibited. Donations tied to brand visibility are not acts of charity. They are indirect advertising strategies that exploit trust, culture, and faith while promoting products that undermine public health. • Third, there should be clear limits on outdoor advertising density, particularly in low-income neighbourhoods, transport corridors, informal markets, and areas with high pedestrian traffic. Festive activations involving product giveaways, price promotions, or experiential marketing should be explicitly regulated or banned. • Fourth, CAPPA reiterates the need for a strengthened sugar-sweetened beverage tax set at 50 percent of the retail price of targeted drinks, with revenues transparently earmarked for non-communicable disease prevention, treatment, and health system strengthening. This must be complemented by mandatory front-of-pack warning labels and enforceable restrictions on marketing to children. • Finally, advertising rules without enforcement are symbolic. Regulatory agencies must be adequately resourced, penalties for violations must be substantial enough to deter misconduct, and offending companies should face sanctions that include fines, licence suspensions, and public disclosure. Furthermore, CAPPA also made direct appeals to relevant stakeholders involved in a bid to curtail the harmful impact of unhealthy foods and sugary beverages, as follows: • To policymakers, incremental responses are no longer sufficient. Nigeria must act decisively to regulate its food environment in the public interest. • To the media, festive campaigns should not be reported at face value. Journalists have a responsibility to interrogate the health implications behind the marketing and centre the lived realities of families bearing the cost of diet-related diseases. • To the food and beverage industry, public health cannot be treated as a seasonal public relations exercise. Claims of social responsibility ring hollow when marketing practices actively undermine population health. • Festive seasons should not come with hidden health costs. They should support nourishment, wellbeing, and genuine social connection, not contribute to preventable illness and long-term suffering.