IN 2002 British American Tobacco (BAT), a big cigarette manufacturer, shuttled a temporary cinema around six Nigerian cities in what it called the “Rothmans Experience It Cinema Tour”. The company screened “Ocean’s Eleven”, “The Matrix” and other blockbusters for crowds of Nigerians, excited by the foreign concepts of high quality sound and a wide screen. To those who came to watch Brad Pitt gobble hamburgers and Keanu Reaves swallow red pills, BAT gave free packs of Rothmans cigarettes.
The tobacco industry’s desperation to recruit African smokers has only intensified since. In most countries the percentage of the population that smokes cigarettes has shrunk since 2000. Most of the exceptions are in Africa.
According to data collected by the World Health Organisation (WHO), smoking rates have increased in only 27 countries over the past 15 years; 17 are in Africa. Congo-Brazzaville has witnessed the most staggering spike: 22% of its people admitted to smoking regularly in 2015, up from 6% in 2000 (see chart). Nearly half of Congolese men now light up. The share of smokers in Cameroon more than doubled in the same period...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2a31oPb
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