Ahead of the World No Tobacco Day commemorated on May 31 annually, anti-tobacco advocates from Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa and Zambia have decried 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 to circumvent traditional advertising regulations, potentially exposing young people to such products daily.

They raised the alarm on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at a Webinar with the theme “Ubuntu, We Unmask the Appeal: Exposing Tobacco Industry Tactics” convened by the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Vital Voices for Africa (VVA) and Being Africa.

In his welcome address, Philip Jakpor, Executive Director of RDI, said that the convening is aimed at eliciting more robust conversations on the menace of growing youth smoking rates due to industry marketing tactics and how activists and journalists can effectively play their societal watchdog role as encapsulated in the World Health Organisation MPOWER package.

Jakpor stressed that the convening deliberately included tobacco control advocates, veteran journalists, and development experts who were brought in to share their insights, in-country experiences on industry tactics of glamourising and making their lethal products attractive to young people as well as how activists and the media can synergise to galvanise 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 and the internet in reaching a large audience that is made up of mainly young people and through the online channels, portray themselves as socially responsible.

In her words, “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 industry 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.

She argued that strengthening regulations around online tobacco marketing, including clear labelling of sponsored content and restrictions on targeting youth are some of the ways around the industry’s grip on the virtual space. She added that educating young people about the tactics used by the tobacco industry and the risks associated with tobacco use would also save young people.

In a similar vein, Paxina Phiri, Communications Specialist at the Centre for Primary Care Research Zambia, revealed that 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 metre 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 Centre, took the participants down the memory lane in her presentation titled “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.“

Similarly, in 1984: Curtis H. Judge, President of Lorillard, in a deposition, stated that if cigarettes were proven to cause cancer, “No one should sell a product that is a proven cause of lung cancer.“

Egbe argued however that the industry knew many years earlier that their products were harmful, citing a 1963 memo by Addison Yeaman, Vice President and General Counsel of Brown & Williamson which contained the following information: “Moreover, nicotine is addictive. We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug effective in the release of stress mechanisms.”

She went on to add 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.

Picking up from Egbe, Caleb Ayong, Founder, VVA, said that daily purchase of one pack cigarettes has an immediate and measurable impact on standard of living because it drives up health costs and reduces worker productivity.

His presentation titled “How tobacco Undermines UN SDGs” 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.

Tying tobacco directly to the SDGs, he said that tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death and disease worldwide which negates the UN’s third sustainable development goal of ensuring good health for all at all stages of life.

Tobacco use is also responsible for 90% of lung cancers and 25% of cancer deaths globally in addition to the fact that it increases the risk of a heart attack or stroke by 40%.

Other issues he listed include the Interruption of studies of children when their parents get sick from tobacco use, even as he stressed that the huge costs associated with smoking limits the opportunity to invest in education.

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), harping on gaps in data concerning 10 to 17-year-olds and the intervention from Development Gateway through the Data on Youth Tobacco Addiction (DaYTA).

Maikudi explained that the research was conducted in Kenya, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 2023 and 2025. The research outcomes, which will be unveiled in the months ahead, focuses 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.

The research showed that current studies focussed mostly on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco while other products such as shisha and those that are emerging (e.g., e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches) are often not included. It also showed that School-based surveys- out of school adolescents are not captured in previous research works.

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.

He lamented the strain on health systems in Africa due to growing cases of tobacco related illnesses as well as the economic costs that are borne by the government and victims of tobacco use even as he added that advocates have serious work to do in stopping the tobacco menace.

This must however be through empowering youth advocates and leveraging on digital technologies that can reach huge audiences.  

In his presentation on “Guide to Communicating Youth Smoking for Advocates and the Media”, Philip Jakpor, RDI Executive Director, said that the foundation for synergy in the work of advocates and media is the WHO MPOWER which essentially provides the framework for the roles of all anti-tobacco stakeholders especially activists and the media.

He 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 Mobilisation 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.

He also listed outlets for promoting youth-focused tobacco reports. They include press statement, media advisory, articles, press briefings, policy briefs as well as interviews on radio, newspapers/magazines, TV, online platforms. Others are radio jingles, social media platforms and web meetings.