The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has accused food and beverage companies of exploiting festive periods to aggressively promote sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods, warning that the practice is worsening Nigeria’s public health crisis.
CAPPA made the claim while presenting findings from its new report, “Unhealthy Food Hijack of Festive Periods in Nigeria,” which examined marketing activities during the 2025 Christmas and 2026 New Year celebrations.
Speaking at the press briefing, CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said the organisation found that festive seasons had become “high-impact marketing windows” deliberately used to drive consumption of unhealthy products.
“What we observed was not just celebration, but deliberate market expansion,” Oluwafemi said. “Festive periods were treated as opportunities to intensify brand visibility and normalise frequent consumption of products high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats.”
According to CAPPA, the monitoring, conducted between late November 2025 and early January 2026, covered malls, parks, markets, transport hubs, places of worship and major digital platforms across cities including Lagos, Abuja, Onitsha and Ibadan.
The report found that companies invested heavily in outdoor advertising, sponsored events, community donations, influencer campaigns and digital promotions, often linking unhealthy foods to values such as generosity, togetherness and even moral virtue.
CAPPA also raised concern over the use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a marketing tool, likening the approach to tactics historically used by tobacco companies.
“Donations to schools, churches and community groups were heavily branded and widely publicised,” Oluwafemi said. “While presented as goodwill, these activities functioned as advertising, embedding unhealthy products into social and religious spaces and shielding companies from scrutiny.”
The organisation warned that such practices disproportionately affect children, young people and low-income households, who are more exposed to festive marketing but least protected from its health consequences.
CAPPA noted that Nigeria is already grappling with rising cases of hypertension, diabetes, stroke and heart disease, while access to affordable diagnosis and treatment remains limited.
“Festive marketing acts as a risk multiplier,” Oluwafemi said. “Each season reinforces harmful consumption patterns and deepens future health costs, which are ultimately absorbed by families and an underfunded health system.”
Based on its findings, CAPPA called for legally binding restrictions on the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of unhealthy foods and beverages, particularly during festive periods. It also urged a ban on branded CSR activities in schools, religious institutions and public spaces.
The group further recommended raising Nigeria’s sugar-sweetened beverage tax to 50 per cent of retail price, introducing mandatory front-of-pack warning labels, and strengthening regulation of digital and influencer marketing.
CAPPA appealed to policymakers to act decisively, urged the media to interrogate festive marketing claims, and warned the food and beverage industry against treating public health as a public relations exercise.
“Festive seasons should not come with hidden health costs,” Oluwafemi said. “Nigeria must reclaim its public spaces and place public health above corporate profit.”
