Anti-tobacco advocates from across Africa have agreed that there is need for the amplification of advocacy against youth smoking given the new tactics employed by the tobacco industry to expose young people to their products daily.

The advocates – from Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa and Zambia – arrived at this conclusion yesterday, May 28, at a webinar held ahead of the World No Tobacco Day commemorated May 31 annually.

They stressed the proliferation of alternative nicotine delivery systems, including e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snus and nicotine pouches facilitated by sophisticated digital marketing strategies of the tobacco industry.

The webinar, with the theme “Ubuntu, We Unmask the Appeal: Exposing Tobacco Industry Tactics,” was convened by the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Vital Voices for Africa (VVA) and Being Africa.

Activists and media synergy

In his welcome address, Philip Jakpor, Executive Director of RDI stressed that tobacco control advocates, veteran journalists, and development experts were brought in to share their insights, in-country experiences on industry tactics of glamourizing and making their lethal products attractive to young people.

He noted the importance of synergy between activists and the media to galvanize policy makers to action.

In her intervention on “How the TI industry addicts young people – Findings from Nigeria,” Oluchi Joy Robert, a UK-based healthcare expert, said in Nigeria the tobacco industry has adapted to the use of social media.

She said: “Nigeria is a peculiar case because of the teeming population of young people who are exposed to the internet.

“The tobacco Industry employs the use of targeted advertising, using online data to target specific demographics.”

She revealed that the entrepreneural initiative of the British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) which targets National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members is one, among several innovations that the tobacco indstry in Nigeria uses to deflect attention from the harms of their products.

She pointed out, however, that the same industry markets their products through online marketing companies that make it possible for young people to order and procure limitless tobacco and nicotine products.

Tobacco products near sweets shops

On her part, Paxina Phiri, Communications Specialist at the Center for Primary Care Research Zambia, said 14% of Zambian youth use tobacco products and the product kills over 7,000 Zambians each year.

She cited “Big Tobacco, Tiny Targets”, a 2024 report by her organisation which showed that tobacco products were available for purchase in shops/kiosks near schools and kids access them as they procure sweets and candies on their way to and from school.

She revealed that cigarettes in single sticks were also sold in such kiosks that are usually within 100 meter radius to schools. To make the tobacco products enticing, the kiosks are also provided posters, banners and other adverts.

According to her, disturbingly, most cigarette brands on sale in Zambia come from global corporations like BAT.

Professor Catherine Egbe, Senior Specialist Scientist, Tobacco Control, Mental health, Alcohol, Substance Use & Tobacco Research Unit, South Africa Medical Research Center, made a presentation on “From Cigarettes to E-Cigarettes: Unmasking the New Face of Nicotine Addiction”.

Professor Egbe revealed that the tobacco industry had a long history of deceptive tactics dating back to 1953 when doctors were portrayed by the industry as lovers of the Carmel brand of cigarette. At the time, the industry started experimenting Social engineering to avoid health concerns raised by scientists about their products.

The publicity stunt on the Carmel brand designed by public relations firm – Hill & Knowlton was published in over 400 newspapers throughout the US and reached an estimated 43 million people.

Subsequently, there were attempts by the industry to deny or outrightly downplay tobacco harms.

Some of the efforts included the 1954 promise by  George Weissman, head of marketing at Philip Morris,  that the company would “stop business tomorrow” if they had any knowledge that their products were harmful to consumers, and the 1972 assertion by James C. Bowling, Vice President for Public Relations at Philip Morris, that if the company’s product are harmful it would stop making it.

In 1976, Helmut Wakeham, Vice President for Research at Philip Morris, claimed, “If the company as a whole believed that cigarettes were really harmful, we would not be in the business. We are a very moralistic company.“

She added that the industry’s introduction of E-cigarettes in the 1990s was a continuation of their business as usual philosophy, but with the focus now being the youth who are targeted through aggressive marketing tactics.

Economic cost

For Caleb Ayong, Founder, VVA, in his presentation – “How tobacco Undermines UN SDGs” – daily purchase of one pack cigarettes has an immediate and measurable impact on standard of living because it drives up health costs, reduces worker productivity.

He explained how tobacco use undermines virtually all the Sustainable Development Goals, even as he added that four out of every five smokers in the world live in countries with low or medium economic power.

According to him, the money these disadvantaged populations spend on buying cigarettes contributes to their inability to provide a balanced diet for themselves and their families.

He pointed out that smoking also contributes to hunger because valuable cultivated land is used for the cultivation of tobacco.

Mohammed Maikudi, Nigeria Country Lead, DaYTA Programme of the Development Gateway, made a presentation on “Dearth of Data on Children and the DaYTA (Data on Tobacco Use among Adolescents)”.

According to Maikudi the outcomes of the research conducted in Kenya, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 2023 and 2025 will be unveiled in the months ahead.

The research focused on 10-17 year olds, attempts to assess factors associated with all forms of adolescent tobacco use (i.e., smoked and smokeless tobacco) in each country, and estimate the prevalence of, and factors associated with the use of novel products such as electronic nicotine/non-nicotine delivery systems and nicotine pouches.

Speaking on Empowering the Youth to Combat Tobacco Use, Achieng Otieno, Founder, Being Africa said that advocates must look unto the youths themselves as part of the solution to youth smoking and addiction.

Otieno said that in Kenya and South Africa young activists have used innovative tactics such as music campaigns to drive awareness on the dangers of tobacco. This, in addition to engaging educational institutions and outreaches targeting communities have helped drive awareness on the power of the young people as change drivers.

In his presentation on “Guide to Communicating Youth Smoking for Advocates and the Media,” Philip Jakpor, RDI Executive Director, stressed that the function of monitoring tobacco use, warning about its dangers fall within the scope of work of media and activists.

He went on to list some of the intersecting areas of work of both. They include Identifying threats to public health; Providing useful information for the government to initiate policies; Analysis and interpretation of government policies, and Mobilization of citizens for action or support of government policies.

For the reports of advocates and the media to make sense, he said that they must quote relevant statistics  such as from the WHO, Global Youth Tobacco Survey and national data, among others. They must also visit relevant websites for information, Speak with experts, Speak with young people, and focus on human angle.

Vanguard News