Article Text

Download PDFPDF

Nigeria: experience it, die from it
Free
  1. Adeola Akinremi,
  2. Seun Akioye
  1. Journalists Advocacy for Safe Environment & Tobacco Eradication, Lagos, Nigeria; adeolaakinremi{at}yahoo.comgenius{at}journalist.com
  2. All articles written by David Simpson unless otherwise attributed. Ideas and items for News Analysis should be sent to David Simpson at the address given on the inside front cover

    Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Last November, BAT launched a promotional campaign called “Experience It” in Nigeria, featuring five blockbuster Hollywood films. All five movies screened or advertised—Ocean’s Eleven, Matrix, ShowTime, Romeo Must Die, and Collateral Damage—are Warner Bros productions. The promotional campaign was national, reaching six geopolitical regions. At “Experience It” events, young people were given free cigarettes and “starters”, as they tend to be known among tobacco industry people, were helped to light them. The venue was a 500 seat dome with wide screen. BAT defended the campaign, saying that it was to “promote cinema culture”, but health advocates say the campaign was really used to launch new packaging for Rothmans cigarettes. Nigeria has no tobacco control regulation and the government actively supports BAT activities.


    Embedded Image

    BAT’s promotional campaign, “Experience It”, featuring five Hollywood movies. At the events, young people were given free cigarettes, and even given help to light them.