[Intl-tobacco] Nigeria: Council Bans Adverts On Tobacco, Alcohol (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Council Bans Adverts On Tobocco, Alcohol
by Ibe Uwaleke / Judicial Reporter / The Guardian  (Lagos)
Source: All-Africa.com, Thursday, 8/9/01
 Lagos

With effect from January 1, next year, the advertisement and promotion of
tobacco and alcoholic beverages in the print and electronic media will be
things of the past in Nigeria.

The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) yesterday
announced this decision which was taken at its 89th meeting held last
month.

But a major player in the tobacco industry, British American Tobacco (BAT)
has expressed surprise at the decision.

"We are surprised by APCON's action. We were not consulted before the
directive was made public. APCON is noted for consulting the industry
(tobacco) on any issue that concerns players. We are surprised. We will
require more clarification on the development and will make a formal
statement once we have all the facts from APCON.

"Our position has always been that advertising is not the cause of smoking
but factors such as family and peer pressure," said Kehinde Johnson, BAT's
director of corporate and regulatory affairs.

Chairman of the Council, Chief Olu Falomo, at a press conference in Abuja
said that APCON decided to ban advert of cigarettes and alcoholic
beverages to curtail the "disturbing habits" that Nigerians picked along
the way through the promotion of such products.

Falomo revealed that from next year, all pictorial panel displays of
either tobacco and alcoholic products in stadia during games should stop.

According to him, however, producers of such products are allowed to
sponsor games with only their brand names and not a display of products.

Falomo who did not refer to any law empowering, council also said that
where cannivals or any funfairs were organised by the affected companies,
they should restrict their advertisement to the venue. He warned that the
event should not be relayed on radio or television. He called on the
Federal Government to increase tariff on the importation of the products
into the country as a means of discouraging the over flooding of the
markets with the products.

Falomo also called on the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to increase its
vigilance on the borders to check importers of the products which
sometimes are expired without health warnings.

He suggested that the Ministry of Health should insist on making the
producing companies of these products to include slogans like "smoking
kills," tobacco is addictive," "smoking damages lungs," smoking is
injurious to health."

He also called on media practitioners, advertising agencies and clients to
work together toward ensuring that advertisements conform with existing
regulations.

According to a Lagos Lawyer, Mr. Ebun Olu Adegboruwa the law prohibiting
smoking and advertising of such products is contained in Decree 20 of 1990
promulgated by the administration of former President Ibrahim Babangida.

Under the Decree, smoking of cigarette in public places including buses is
prohibited. Section two of the said decree also banned the advertisement
of such products in both the print and electronic media.

No mention was made of alcoholic beverages, according to the decree. It
was not clear yesterday if it was the Section of the 1999 Constitution or
the Decree that the council is relying upon for its decision.

In a six-point communique signed at the end of its summit on tobacco and
alcoholic products advertisement held in Lagos on March 7 and 8 2001, the
following were agreed upon:

that the existing legislation on the promotion of tobacco and alcoholic
products are sufficient to tackle the issues concerning the industry and
what is required is effective enforcement. The summit enjoined all
practitioners to adhere strictly to the rules governing the promotion of
the products;

operators in the industry should embrace the principle of self-regulation.
Operators in the industry should work together on an on-going basis to
manage the issues concerning the industry and not wait for problems to
arise before coming together;

- the summit enjoined media practitioners, advertising agency operatives
and clients to work together towards ensuring that advertisements conform
to existing regulations. To this end, agencies should state clearly, in
their media purchase order, time for the exposure of advertisements on
radio and television, which must not be altered by the media. And outdoor
advertising practitioners should adhere strictly to the regulations on the
siting of billboards;

- the summit noted the important contributions of tobacco and alcoholic
product companies in the area of employment of labour, payment of taxes,
sponsorships and other social responsibilities to the Nigerian economy;

- the summit stressed the need for the industry to collaborate with APCON
to initiate an enlightenment campaign to educate the public on the
existing regulations on tobacco and alcoholic products;

- the summit brought to the fore the controversy over the product: "If it
is legitimate to produce and sell, then it is legitimate to communicate
responsibly."

Meanwhile, the council has forwarded a list of practitioners it says are
practising illegally in the country to the police.

"In spite of warnings and calls by us for them to register or pull out,
they have refused and we want to tell them that there is a law setting us
up,"  Falomo said.

He also said that APCON has updated a list of products, whose
advertisements were subject to pre-exposure vetting, monitoring and
approval by the association's standard panel.

The products are food consumables, personal hygiene products, drinks,
medicines, products directed at children, home video promotions, political
advertising and traditional home videos to ensure that the producers
follow laid down rules. Falomo further said that henceforth, APCON would
screen advertisement contained in medicine products.