By Ed Stoddard and Chijioke Ohuocha
JOHANNESBURG/LAGOS Aug 31 (Reuters) – Beer sales in Africa
are surging because of economic and population growth, a trend
rubbing against the grain of another demographic factor defining
the region: intense religiosity.
By almost any measure, Africa is an exceptionally devout
place and the major growth area for Christianity and Islam.
This should have implications for investors, especially in
the fast-growing retail and beer sectors: they must navigate
sacred sensitivities in areas such as marketing and factor the
faithful into forecasts and demographic profiles for the
continent’s population of just over a billion.
Brewing executives have said they tone down their
advertising campaigns in Africa, and these do tend to be
conservative.
In Nigeria for example, scantily-clad women tend not to
feature on billboards promoting beer brands. Instead, a man in a
suit is portrayed sipping a refreshing cold lager, or more often
than not the ad shows just a giant bottle and glass.
According to a 2010 report by the Pew Forum on Religion
Public Life, the number of Muslims living in Sub-Saharan Africa
rose 20-fold from 1900 to 234 million.
Christianity has grown at an even more blistering pace, with
numbers soaring almost 70-fold over the same period of time to
470 million from just 7 million.
And in the case of Christianity, much of this growth has
been concentrated in Pentecostal churches and other evangelical
denominations which, like Islam, tend to frown on alcohol.
Continued…
