By Humphrey Ukeaja
Festive periods occupy a strategic place in the marketing calendars of Big Food corporations. National and religious holidays such as Christmas, New Year, Easter, Eid-el-Fitr and Eid-el-Kabir provide predictable moments of heightened consumption, social gathering and emotional openness. Food and beverage advertising during these periods does not merely promote products. It systematically aligns ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and sugary drinks with socially valued ideas of celebration, convenience and family cohesion.
Across broadcast media, households are routinely depicted marking festive moments with bottles and cans of sugary drinks, otherwise known as Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs), presented as a natural accompaniment to communal meals. Digital platforms extend this logic, with social-media influencers framing UPFs such as instant noodles and similar products as appropriate festive purchases or gifts. Outdoor advertising reinforces the message through slogans that equate celebration itself with branded, processed consumption.
Behind these images and cheerful scenes lies a coordinated commercial effort to expand sales and market dominance at the expense of consumers. For instance, in 2023, four of Nigeria’s most profitable beverage firms were also among the top ten spenders on advertising in the country. This sustained marketing investment has helped position Nigeria as one of the world’s largest beverages markets, while normalising soft drinks as part of everyday consumption.
The public health implications of this strategy are inseparable from its commercial success. The same advertising power that normalises frequent consumption also enables Big Food corporations to expand their reach particularly to children, adolescents, and young adults. Products that are high in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, nutritionally poor and heavily processed are consistently framed as affordable, convenient and suitable for daily consumption. Marketing narratives of celebration and ease thus function as conduits through which unhealthy dietary patterns are legitimised.
Over time, these patterns reshape consumer and household habits. Children grow up or learn to associate junk food with rewards, fun, and festivity. Similarly, parents facing economic pressure increasingly interpret ultra-processed foods as practical solutions rather than compromises. Traditional foods prepared from fresh ingredients and rooted foods are displaced by packaged alternatives designed for speed and shelf longevity. Meals lose their social and cultural depth and become acts of hurried consumption.
Few notice the trap being set.
The result is a worrying nutrition transition away from traditional, wholesome diets toward unhealthy dietary patterns that fuel the country’s rising burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney failure. No fewer than 30,000 Nigerians die annually from diabetes alone. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that around 250 Nigerians die daily from diet-related NCDs. Overall, NCDs now account for almost 30 percent of annual deaths in the country, placing enormous strain on families and an already fragile health system.
Many public health experts and advocates now describe the situation as a public health emergency requiring urgent healthy food policies to protect public health and strengthen the health sector.
It is against this backdrop that the Senate’s public hearing on increasing the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage tax, with proposals to earmark the revenue for public-health interventions, becomes critically important. Supported by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, the initiative represents a necessary step towards protecting population health.
At its current rate of N10 per litre, Nigeria’s SSB tax is far too weak to discourage excessive consumption. Evidence from countries such as Mexico shows that taxes set at 20–50 per cent of retail price can significantly reduce sugary-drink intake and contribute to lower rates of obesity and other NCDs. When properly earmarked, such revenue can strengthen primary healthcare, support nutrition education and fund long-term disease-prevention programmes.
Even so, taxation alone cannot address the full scope of the problem.
Nigeria must also adopt mandatory Front-of-Pack (FOP) nutrition labelling on ultra-processed foods, allowing consumers to quickly identify products high in sugar, sodium or unhealthy fats. Such clear and visible warnings are especially important during festive periods, when marketing pressure is at its peak and purchasing decisions are emotionally driven.
Restrictions on junk food marketing to children are equally urgent. This includes banning cartoon characters on packaging, prohibiting promotions in schools and child-focused events, and limiting festive giveaways aimed at young audiences. Countries such as Chile have implemented these measures with measurable success, significantly reducing children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing.
Individual choices will always play a role. Traditional beverages can replace sugary drinks. Homemade snacks can displace packaged alternatives. Freshly prepared meals can reclaim space at the table.
But personal responsibility has limits.
Families cannot reasonably be expected to outsmart billion-naira marketing campaigns designed to exploit moments of faith, celebration and togetherness. When unhealthy products are cheaper, more visible and more aggressively promoted than nutritious food, the playing field is fundamentally unequal.
This is why decisive public policy is essential. Strengthening the SSB tax, introducing Front-of-Pack labelling and restricting junk-food marketing to children are not punitive measures; they are evidence-based tools to correct market failures and protect public health.
Nigeria already carries a heavy and growing burden of diet-related diseases. Without urgent action, today’s festive excesses will become tomorrow’s medical emergencies, paid for by families, communities and an overstretched health system. Our holidays should nourish our bodies as much as they uplift our spirits. Government has both the authority and the obligation to ensure that corporate profit does not come at the expense of children’s health.
Ukeaja is a healthy food advocate and Industry Monitoring Officer at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA).
