Tobacco imagery in Nigerian music videos from 1999 to 2023: a content analysis
Abayomi Adeosun1,2, Karin Gross3,2, Joachim Pelikan1,2
1University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Background:
Tobacco imagery in music videos can glamorise smoking, influencing youth attitudes and behaviours, yet its prevalence in Nigerian music, a global cultural force driven mainly by the Afrobeats genre, remains underexplored.
Methods:
This content analysis examined tobacco imagery in 880 Nigerian music videos from 1999 to 2023, sourced from YouTube based on top song charts. Videos were coded for user demographics, tobacco product types and paraphernalia across 15 s episodes. Trends were analysed, and future prevalence was forecasted to 2050 using the Holt-Winters method.
Results:
Tobacco imagery was observed in 153 of 880 videos (17.4%), having combined 3.1 billion YouTube views. Cigarettes (51%) and cigars (34%) dominated, followed by shisha (7%), tobacco pipe (5%) and e-cigarettes (3%). Tobacco imagery appeared in the first 15 s of 23% of videos. Five artists accounted for 28% of videos with tobacco imagery and 33% of the tobacco events. The proportion of videos with tobacco imagery increased by 1.58 percentage points annually and is projected to exceed 55% by 2050 without intervention.
Conclusions:
Tobacco imagery is prevalent in Nigerian music videos, amplified by Afrobeats' global reach and youth viewership. The upward trend and shift towards newer products like shisha and e-cigarettes signal evolving public health risks and underscores the need for robust enforcement of existing regulations, alongside artist and corporate engagement to mitigate tobacco normalisation.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Drug Dependence
Sampling Continuous Time Signal
In the...
Stimulants
Cocaine can be administered via snorting, injection, or smoking. It primarily functions by blocking the reuptake of dopamine, resulting in a euphoric high characterized by an intense sensation of happiness and...
Drug Concentration Versus Time Correlation
Two pivotal parameters are the minimum effective concentration (MEC) and the minimum toxic concentration (MTC). The MEC is the...
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Smoking is a primary risk factor for COPD, with over 80% of patients having a history of it. Patients typically experience progressive dyspnea or labored breathing, frequent coughing, and recurrent pulmonary infections. Many eventually succumb to respiratory failure, characterized by...
Vaporization


