Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has urged policymakers, the media and the food and beverage industry to work towards the common good by stopping and discouraging the marketing of unhealthy foods to the unsuspecting public.

At the launch of CAPPA’s new report, Unhealthy Food Hijack of Festive Periods in Nigeria, the Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, noted that festive-period marketing, such as have been observed, “reshapes food norms at a time consumption is already elevated,” reinforcing dietary patterns that contribute to Nigeria’s growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

The report, which was compiled from November 25, 2025, to January 5, 2026, examined how the food and beverage industry used festive periods as high-impact marketing windows to promote unhealthy food and drinks.

It focuses on physical spaces such as malls, parks, open markets, transport hubs and places of worship, as well as across digital platforms at Yuletide, but the practices documented are not new, as they reflect a pattern repeated year after year, with increasing sophistication and reach.

On the observations from the study, Oluwafemi said: “Companies invested heavily in outdoor branding, sponsored events, market activations, school and community donations, and targeted digital advertising.

“What we observed was not just a seasonal celebration, but deliberate market expansion. Festive periods were treated as opportunities to intensify brand visibility, associate unhealthy products with social meaning, and drive consumption at scale. These campaigns were highly coordinated.”

CAPPA urged the Federal Government to introduce comprehensive and legally binding restrictions on the advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of unhealthy food and beverage products, particularly during festive periods, given that industry self-regulation had failed.

Industry Monitoring Officer of CAPPA, Humphrey Ukeaja, noted that the organisation aligned with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 50 per cent tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and use the revenue for NCD prevention and health promotion.

CAPPA charged journalists to interrogate the health implications behind the marketing and centrethe lived realities of families bearing the cost of diet-related diseases.