What does a bottle of sugary drink have to do with literature and books? Quite a lot, actually.
For many bibliophiles, reading is often accompanied by a cup of tea, coffee or a cold drink, along with snacks. Writing, too, is usually a solitary journey, travelled with characters, ideas, and imagination for company. And somewhere along that quiet road, a drink – often a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) – slips in unnoticed.
This thought was at the back of my mind as I joined the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) and other journalists at the premiere of Sweet Poison on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. The documentary aims to shed light on how ultra-processed food and beverage companies have embedded sugary drinks into everyday Nigerian life through aggressive marketing and deep market penetration, with significant public health consequences.
What makes Sweet Poison compelling is that it does not preach. It simply lays out the evidence through medical experts, policymakers, traders, students, and ordinary Nigerians living with non-communicable diseases linked to excessive sugar consumption.
The film persuades viewers to confront habits many of us take for granted. For instance, many Nigerians consume foods and drinks without considering their nutritional value. It is common to see someone buy a fizzy drink at N300, rather than a bottle of water at N200, under the faulty assumption that water is “ordinary”, while the fizzy drink is more “refreshing”. With documentary evidence backed by medical testimonies, Sweet Poison quietly shows that this “refreshment” comes at too high a cost to public health and the environment, and that the government must act to protect consumers from this harmful sales tactic of manufacturers.
The documentary also exposes the sheer scale of sugary drink marketing in Nigeria. From buses and billboards to school walls and street corners, it shows how the industry uses sophisticated advertising campaigns to entice new consumers while watering down the harm its products cause. The industry’s message is often that these drinks are fun, youthful, social, and harmless. Sweet Poison counters that narrative with science and lived experience.
Sweet Poison’s message is particularly urgent as the world rapidly transitions from wholesome, home-cooked meals to ‘instant’ junk food and drinks. Today, many parents are caught up in the demands of modern life and rely increasingly on ultra-processed products for their children’s meals, thus unwittingly laying the groundwork for a generation exposed to noncommunicable diseases.
Speaking at the premiere, Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of CAPPA, said, “Blending expert analysis with personal stories and striking visuals, the documentary features perspectives from policymakers, medical professionals, NCD patients, traders, fishermen, and university students to examine the growing public health crisis linked to the excessive consumption of sugary drinks. Sweet Poison is an attempt to connect the dots. It combines medical evidence, lived experiences and on-the-ground realities to show how growing dependence on sugary drinks is quietly reshaping the nation’s health profile.”
That description is accurate. Sweet Poison succeeds because it moves beyond statistics and shows how a public health crisis is unfolding quietly in homes, campuses, markets, and hospitals across the country.
The film also deserves credit for addressing the economic argument usually advanced by the beverage industry, that higher taxes on sugary drinks would threaten jobs and investment. Sweet Poison does not dismiss the importance of business, noting that it creates jobs, generates revenue, and plays important roles in national life. However, the film insists that ”economic participation must be guided by ethical obligations to the public. It argues that businesses must balance profit-making with respect for human rights, public health and social wellbeing, and that no industry should function in ways that endanger lives.” In other words, it is a living and healthy society that can sustain industrial progress.
Another important dimension of the documentary is its attention to the environment, especially the mountains of discarded plastic bottles littering Nigerian streets, clogging drainages, and worsening flooding, which have become part of our urban landscape. The film reminds us that the crisis is not only about what sugary drinks do to our bodies, but also what their packaging does to our environment, hence the need for urgent action to avoid impending catastrophe.
One of the documentary’s strengths is its restraint: it neither blames nor shames consumers. Instead, it educates the viewer on the need to be alert about what they consume.
Technically, the documentary is well produced and accessible. It is available on YouTube and deserves a wide audience. Schools, universities, transport parks, and community centres would benefit from screenings and discussions around it, especially for young people who are among the most aggressively targeted by junk food and beverage marketing.
CAPPA has long been active in public-interest advocacy; – from tobacco control to environmental justice and healthy food policies – notable campaigns that have resonated globally. Sweet Poison fits squarely within that tradition. Produced by CAPPA with support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), Sweet Poison is a thoughtful and timely intervention in a country grappling with rising rates of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and other diet-related diseases. It deserves accolades, and I hope that it will be given international exposure. Kudos.
Dr Oyegbile, a journalist and media scholar, consults for CAPPA