The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has urged the country’s regulators and the film and cinema industry to protect the next generation of Nigerians from the predatory tactics of the tobacco industry by sustaining the #SmokeFreeNollywood campaign.
CAPPA’s Executive Director Akinbode Oluwafemi said the tobacco industry had a track record of surreptitiously using movies and music to entice young persons to take up the deadly habit of smoking.
“This is not only unlawful but also undermines tobacco control efforts and worsens Nigeria’s non-communicable diseases (NCDs) burden,” Oluwafemi said.
The tobacco control expert spoke during the second edition of the Lagos International Film and Cinema Convention (LIFACC) held at Ebony Life Place, Victoria Island Lagos, on August 14 and 15, 2024.
LIFACC is promoted as the finest gathering of cinema owners, top executives, film distributors, film producers, cinema set-up facilities/equipment manufacturers/suppliers, and all sundry businesses around the cinema business worldwide.
Oluwafemi, represented by CAPPA’s Policy and Research Manager Zikora Ibeh, spoke on “Smoking in Movies and Urgency of Regulatory Action: Lessons from Other Film Hub.”
“Tobacco is a killer,” he said, “the tobacco industry is built on deception, lies. The industry is notorious for exploiting the film industry worldwide to influence youths.
“Nollywood films and Nigerian music videos are watched by families and youths in Nigeria and beyond. We must protect them from harmful images encouraging tobacco use.
“There is enough data to show that a lot of teenagers take up smoking because of what they watch on screen. Entertainment is used by the industry to influence young people to use tobacco. Nigerian entertainment is watched across the continent and even in Asia and Europe. We cannot allow tobacco corporations to continue exploiting these films to compromise the health and the future of our children.”
Oluwafemi urged Nigeria’s film industry, known as Nollywood, to be wary of the industry’s tricks, adding that “the depiction of tobacco use in films is a form of promotion that influences tobacco use, particularly by young people.”
He explained that the industry targets Nollywood through indirect marketing in movies, product placement, product mention, actors’ outfits/props, unnecessary smoking scenes and endorsements.
The CAPPA ED urged stakeholders to comply with the directives of the National Tobacco Control Act and the National Tobacco Control Regulations that already prohibit the use, promotion or sponsorship of tobacco in films.
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Oluwafemi also commended recent efforts by the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to sanitise the entertainment industry with its latest subsidiary regulation, aimed at prohibiting the glamorisation of tobacco and nicotine products in movies, musical videos, and skits.
He noted that the NFVCB Regulations 2024 mirrors global best practices and should be upheld by all stakeholders in the industry to safeguard the well-being of the public who consume their content.
The event featured the Minister of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa; Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Toke Benson-Awoyinka; Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation Ali Nuhu; Director-General of the National Film and Video Censors Board, Dr. Shuaibu Husseini; President of the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria Ope Ajayi; Chairman Silverbird Group, Ben Murray-Bruce and Association of Nollywood Core Producers’ Board of Trustees member Alex Eyengho, actors, producers, directors, among other stakeholders.
