Empirical evidence shows that unhealthy marketing is powerful and highly persuasive, as it creates social norms around food, shapes lifestyles, and increases preference for diets that pose a grave threat to public health and workforce productivity. While traditional marketing has long been used to promote unhealthy foods, the increasing digitalization of food promotion has opened new avenues for exploitation. Platforms such as social media, mobile applications, video games, emails, and search engines are now being utilized to influence food choices, purchasing habits, and consumption patterns within households and across targeted groups.
Unsurprisingly, the consequences of these unhealthy marketing gimmicks are severe. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), millions of children worldwide are consuming more ultra-processed foods that are industrially formulated and often contain high levels of salt, sodium, sugar, and saturated fats, leading to devastating lifelong consequences such as early exposure to hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and cancers, among other Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) that could result in premature death.
Similarly, the United Kingdom applied comparable restrictions on fast food advertising in broadcast media to improve their health indices and limit such marketing to children. Paid advertisements on social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, and X (formally Twitter) were also included in the ban. Drawing from these examples and successes, the Nigerian government and concerned policymakers can tackle the rising issue of NCDs in the country by adopting similar intervention and implementing mandatory regulations to curb the marketing of unhealthy foods, particularly high-sodium diets, to minors. This will include prohibiting the marketing of such foods within school environments, educational content, and child-centric spaces. Furthermore, it is imperative to continuously educate the public and enforce policies that promote comprehensive front-of-pack warning labels on packaging, allowing consumers to make informed dietary choices. Importantly, salt reduction is a cost-effective public health strategy that demands a multi-sectoral approach and coordinated strategies and actions to improve public health outcomes and national productivity. As such, all stakeholders must continue to put heads together to prioritize public health.