Ahead of the 2025 ‘World No Tobacco Day’ this Saturday, tobacco control experts and advocates across Africa are voicing renewed concerns about various strategies believed to be contained in the tobacco industry’s playbook for the continent and elsewhere.
These strategies employed by the big tobacco industry were described as “predatory tactics” to hook the lungs of African youths to its various ‘killer’ products.
Speaking under the theme “Ubuntu, Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Tobacco Industry tactics,” the panel, including advocates from Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa and Kenya, exposed how tobacco companies deploy deceptive marketing to choke the lungs of Africa’s next generation with nicotine, an addictive substance.
A UK-based Nigerian tobacco control advocate, Oluchi Joy Roberts, in her address, said the Tobacco industry’s playbook employs a range of manipulative strategies to attract African youth, particularly those aged 10 to 24.
She highlighted that the rise of digital platforms has amplified the industry’s reach.
According to her, Tobacco companies leverage social media influencers and glamorized campaigns to appeal to tech-savvy African youth.
She said: “Nigeria is a peculiar case, because Nigeria has a teaming young population, and the tobacco industry understands this.
“According to the United Nations Population Fund, over 30% of young people in Nigeria are aged between 10 and 24. So, they explore the fact that these young people, most of them, are always on the internet.
“So, they make use of the virtual space. The tobacco industry’s activities are overly present across social media channels. For instance, on Facebook, they have over 40% presence. They advertise their products, they do influencer campaigns, and all that stuff.
“On Twitter, their activities are recorded at about 36% in terms of their presence. They are on YouTube, they are on Instagram, and they are even on LinkedIn.
“I’m also going to talk about their agriculture entrepreneurship. They do this, I think once a year. Sometime in November 2022, they had a joint venture, the one they did with the Lagos state government.
“It was a Farm Fair, where they were training catfish farmers. So, what is the underlying objective of all of these activities?
“It is to keep tobacco products in the consciousness of young people. So, people fall for this thinking that they are corporate social responsibilities because that is what they mask it as. But it is not, because, at the end of the day, what is key for them is profiteering.
“In terms of the social media channels, also, they try to create engaging content. They showcase tobacco products in a very positive light because they know the audience they are targeting spends most of their time on the internet.” Roberts explained.
Paxina Phiri, Communication Specialist for the Center for Primary Care Research, who also doubles as the chairperson for the Zambia Media Network against tobacco, in her address, said the Tobacco industry’s playbook includes tactics of using students’ marketplaces to sell their deadly wares.
She revealed: “We surveyed about 475 shops, kiosks, and other points of sale near the schools. We also went to playgrounds and game zones, just to find out how the tobacco industry targets these young ones. From there, we found out that the school-going children had these kiosks and shops near the schools, near their playgrounds, and the game zones, and they all had these cigarettes displayed.
“These are the shops where children go to buy sweets or any stuff they want when they go on break. And what we found out was. A lot of these shops had cigarette packets displayed in front where children could easily access them.
“In Zambia, you know, we don’t have a law yet, though we have reached an advanced stage for the passage of this law.
“We have single selling of sticks of cigarette, which is worrying, which is a concern to all of us because these children can access the single sticks from just nearby their schools and it’s cheaper. One single stick of cigarette is cheaper than a sweet.”
Prof Catherne Egbe, a Senior Specialist Scientist in the Mental Health, Alcohol, Substance Use, and Tobacco Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council, in her keynote address, revealed tobacco industry has been using massive PR campaigns to sell their products.
She also added that one of the tactics from the tobacco industry’s playbook is sleek packaging, marketing products like e-cigarettes, shisha, and nicotine pouches. as “safer” alternatives and masking their addictive nature and health risks, such as cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairment.
Egbe, while trying to drive her points home, narrated how the tobacco industry, had in the past, masterful penetrated the ranks of medical doctors to validate its products of doom. “The tobacco industry wanted to survey doctors at a meeting they were having and then they weren’t getting their way.
“So, what they did was they organized their people to go to the front of a meeting venue and start asking the doctors, how did you travel to New York? Did you use a plane? Did you use a train? And then among all the questions was a question, do you smoke? And if they said, Yes, oh, what type of cigarette Do you smoke? And do you have it with you here?
“So, the interesting backstory of that was that they had gone before that day to place cartons of Camel cigarettes in the hotel rooms of the doctors. And, you know, because many of them were traveling far from far distances, they must not have smoked.
“They may have run out of cigarettes. They may not have had time to go and purchase cigarettes in the town. And they took, of course, a pack from the consignment in their rooms, because it’s like a gift.
Prof. Egbe continued: “So, when they were at that meeting, many of them who were smoking would have been holding the Camel cigarette.
“And so the industry went to town publicizing this advert that doctors smoke camels. You can this is just a back story telling you how manipulative the industry is.
“The interesting thing is that this was at a time when information was coming out through the scientific world that cigarettes were causing diseases.
“Of course, that is of concern to doctors, and what happened was that they were trying to get the favors of doctors and trying to use doctors to promote their products.”
Nigerian environmental activist, who is also the Executive Director of the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Philip Jakpor, in his address called for stronger collaboration between activists and journalists to combat the tobacco epidemic.
Jakpor shared actionable strategies for leveraging advocacy and media to reduce tobacco consumption, emphasizing the power of human angle storytelling and grassroots campaigns to work against the tobacco industry’s playbook.
According to him, by reporting on the health risks of tobacco, including emerging products like heated tobacco devices (e.g., IQOS) and nicotine pouches (e.g., Zyn), journalists can counter industry claims that these are “safer” alternatives.
The RDI Executive Director stated: “The foundation of the synergy in work between advocates and the media is embedded in the MPOWER measures.
“The six measures outlined in the MPOWER measures are measures that can be taken to reduce demand for tobacco and nicotine products in this case.
“So, the ‘M’ is essentially about monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, the ‘P’ is about protecting people from tobacco smoke, the ‘O’ offers help to quit, the ‘W’ warns, ‘E’ enforces ban force bands, and ‘R’ raises taxes on tobacco.
“Within these measures, you have all the actors who are responsible for ensuring that we have a reduction in demand for tobacco products. Within these measures, you have civil society. Within these measures, you have room for the media; you have room for government, people, and policymakers,” Jakpor said.
In his address, Mohammed Maikudi, a representative of Development Gateway raised concerns regarding available data on tobacco use in Nigeria and Africa.
He said: “So currently, the main sources of data on adolescent tobacco use in our focus countries include school-based surveys such as GYTS, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, and the Global School-based Student Health Surveys, GSHS.
“However, these surveys have their notable limitation. They often exclude out-of-school adolescents. And we know Nigeria has a huge population of out-of-school adolescents.
“The other limitation is that the data can also be outdated, limited in scope, or not nationally representative.
“For example, Nigeria’s last GYTS was conducted in 2008 and only covered five states. The issue with this is, is that when we’re talking about data, data-driven decision-making, or developing policy based on data, the best practice is not to use data that is older than five years old.
“So, the more up-to-date your data can be, the better chance you have in combating their efforts.”
Other speakers highlighted various tactics in the tobacco industry’s playbook used to exploit Africa’s growing population and weaker regulatory environments.
They also called for urgent action to counter these tactics. Recommendations include enforcing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which 183 countries have adopted to restrict tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (TAPS).
