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No more tobacco logos for Ferrari 

It is likely that a cigarette brand will never again be outwardly visible on the livery of a Formula One car.

Other teams - notably Renault, McLaren and Honda - farewelled their tobacco-fuelled dollars a couple of years ago, as anti-advertising laws swept Europe and the world.

Ferrari, however, opted to renew its association with Philip Morris, and until recently has been displaying Marlboro logos where possible, including in places like Monaco and China. . .

Reportedly, Philip Morris, owned by Altria Group, decided that the 'barcode' livery should be permanent.

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• End of the Tobacco Road In Formula One 

But at the recent Bahrain grand prix, where local laws theoretically would have allowed Ferrari to run tobacco branding, the two F2008 cars instead displayed the so-called 'barcode' livery -- reminiscent of the Marlboro signage but using white markings instead of letters and logos.

According to Autoweek magazine, Ferrari has confirmed that Marlboro logos "will no longer appear on its cars".

Reportedly, Philip Morris, owned by Altria Group, decided that the 'barcode' livery should be permanent.

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• Singapore's ban on tobacco ads will apply to Grand Prix: report 

Singapore's strict laws banning tobacco advertisements will apply to the city-state's inaugural Formula One Grand Prix in September, a report said Sunday.

The sport's first-ever night race around Singapore's streets will take place on September 28.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Trade and Industry told the Sunday Times "the publication or display of any acknowledgement of sponsorship of a tobacco company would, as a general rule, be prohibited."

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Bahrain bans F1 tobacco advertising  

Tobacco advertising on billboards related to Formula One motor racing has been banned in Bahrain in a move to reduce smoking in the kingdom, where one in three adults smoke.

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• F1 a victim as Bahrain stamps out smoking. 

Despite the sport having banned such sponsorship since 2005, posters advertising tobacco products using the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix are to be pulled down as the country attempts to fall into line with increasingly popular smoking restrictions.

According to the Gulf Daily News, the move is part of efforts to stop cigarette and tobacco advertising at all sporting events throughout the kingdom, including all events at the Bahrain International Circuit. The ban on billboard advertising is seen as an extremely significant development.

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• EU health chief asks China to ban tobacco promotions at Formula One race 

e European Union's health commissioner has asked China to ban tobacco promotions at next month's Formula One Chinese Grand Prix in keeping with EU law.

Markos Kyprianou said Wednesday he told Chinese Vice Health Minister Chen Xiaohong the EU was concerned about images of cigarette advertisements being beamed back into Europe.

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Ferrari, tobacco and supercars 

The European Union's Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou has written directly to Ferrari, asking the company to end its tobacco sponsorship in Formula 1, arguing that it undermines the goal European goal of ending all cigarette advertising at sporting events. Ferrari is banned from using the Marlboro logos at most events but continues to run the cars in Marlboro colours in Bahrain, Monaco, China and Japan. Images of those races are then beamed into European markets, despite the EU's ban and a determined attempt to stop such activities by the World Health Organisation.

It seems that Kyprianou is now trying to shame Ferrari into action.

"I am certain that finding alternative sponsorship will not constitute a great challenge for such a successful enterprise as Ferrari whose image would no longer be associated with a killing habit," Kyprianou wrote, in a letter which was clearly designed for public consumption. "The best solution would be that Ferrari and Philip Morris proactively decide to end the current sponsorship agreement immediately, a gesture that would be greatly appreciated.

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EU in new anti-tobacco sponsor push 

EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou is renewing efforts to drive tobacco sponsorship out of Formula One.

Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland, Kyprianou said he has written to the FIA and Ferrari, who are sponsored by Marlboro parent company Philip Morris, to express his desire to see tobacco logos out of the sport.

"Formula One is a symbol," he said. "We must limit the advertising of tobacco as much as possible so we can limit the influence on young people."

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• Brussels presses F1 over tobacco ties 

Formula 1 should cut its remaining ties to tobacco as part of efforts to discourage youngsters from smoking, the European Commission's health chief has said.

Markos Kyprianou said: "Formula 1 race drivers . . . are viewed as heroes. They can become role models . . . so the young people watch these people with tobacco signs on their chest and the wrong message goes out."

He urged the sport to scrap big-money tobacco sponsorship and advertising deals, in a further sign of the Commission's contentious anti-smoking campaign.

Mr Kyprianou's call will focus attention on Ferrari, the only team, he said, that still had tobacco sponsors. Ferrari, home to drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen, carries branding from Marlboro, a division of the tobacco company Philip Morris.

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• Diaries reopen the Bernie Ecclestone affair 

The diaries reopen the controversy over whether Gordon Brown deliberately lied over the secret £1 million donation from Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula 1 racing chief, who secured an exemption from the ban on tobacco advertising at race circuits.

Mr Campbell says they had agreed a media strategy about the donation, the size of which was not known, three days before Mr Brown gave an interview on the BBC Today programme denying all knowledge of it.

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• Philip Morris Breaks Promise to End Sponsorship of Formula One Auto Racing 

Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International (both subsidiaries of Altria) claim they are changed, responsible companies that do not market to kids and are concerned about the health risks of their products. But the companies' actions tell a different story. In the latest example, Philip Morris International this year is the only tobacco company that continues to sponsor Formula One auto races, which exposes spectators and tens of millions of television viewers worldwide - including millions of children - to the name, logo and red-and-white colors of the company's best-selling Marlboro cigarettes. The Marlboro brand was prominently displayed on the winning car and uniforms of the driver and pit crew at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. No responsible company would continue to associate deadly and addictive cigarettes with the excitement and glamour of auto racing, thereby increasing their appeal to children.

Philip Morris' sponsorship of Formula One violates the company's own voluntary marketing standards and circumvents the efforts of a growing number of countries around the world to prohibit tobacco advertising, promotions and sponsorships, as required by the international tobacco control treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

On September 11, 2001, Philip Morris, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco - the three largest multinational tobacco companies - issued voluntary marketing standards that set a deadline of December 2006 for ending tobacco sponsorships of sports

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• On Advertising: Formula One kicks the tobacco habit  

The flurry of activity comes as Formula One draws ever closer to kicking its long-term dependence on tobacco. With regulators in Europe and elsewhere moving to close some of the last loopholes that permitted cigarette companies to sponsor auto racing, the hundreds of millions of dollars that these brands used to lavish on Formula One are dwindling.

As of next season, two tobacco brands that have long been high- profile Formula One sponsors will be out of the running. Mild Seven, owned by Japan Tobacco, has ended its relationship with the Renault team, while a deal between British American Tobacco's Lucky Strike brand and the Honda team has also expired. Other cigarette brands, like West and Benson & Hedges, previously bowed out.

Tobacco brands had been willing to pay a premium for these sponsorships because Formula One was one of the last marketing options left for the industry. With that money now dwindling, some teams feared a funding crisis. Instead, analysts say, as racing executives prepare to gather next week in Monaco for a conference on the commercial side of the sport, the sponsorship market looks surprisingly healthy.

The departure of the tobacco brands may actually have helped to attract a new kind of marketer, analysts say. . . .

One prominent team, Ferrari, will continue to accept tobacco money next season, even as it faces racing without the driver Michael Schumacher, who retired last month. Philip Morris's Marlboro brand plans to support the team financially through 2011 under a deal signed last year. At races in Europe and most other Formula One sites, Ferrari will be barred from displaying the Marlboro logo.

"We still believe it's appropriate for us to be involved," said Tommaso Di Giovanni, a Philip Morris spokesman, adding that the company would try to "develop innovative ways to convey the sponsorship to consumers."

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New sponsorship era dictates new model 

Formula One teams still need to learn to change their ways to adapt best to the post-tobacco sponsorship era in the sport.

That is the view of Williams's head of marketing Scott Garrett, who thinks that the Grove-based outfit are one of the few teams who understand that there can no longer be reliance on a single title sponsor for funding. . . .

"I think the value of tobacco as a big sponsor was that it created a business model for some teams where they were perhaps much more reliant on one sponsor rather than a group of sponsors," said Garrett, whose team have just se

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• Williams F1 secure AT&T sponsorship 

Williams F1 have secured title sponsorship from AT&T for the 2007 season.

The multi-year agreement with one of the leading telecommunications companies in the world will see the Formula One team rebranded AT&T Williams F1 next year.

"Formula One provides a unique platform for a global brand like AT&T," said Mark Keiffer, AT&T chief marketing officer. . . .

Observers point out that the end of tobacco sponsorship in Formula One has removed that stigma which some companies did not want to be associated with. This should open the door to more of these type of deals as companies now look to the sport as a way to market the brand or services globally. Dutch banking firm ING recently concluded a deal with Renault while earlier this year, McLaren managed to lure phone giant Vodafone to its stable.

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• BAT prepare for final F1 race 

British American Tobacco exits Formula One at the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend after eight years of Lucky Strike sponsorship - and brings to an end links to motorsport dating back to the 1960s.

"We are very proud of the team's sporting achievements and wish them every success in the future, but our time is over," said Jimmi Rembiszewski, BAT marketing director. "Public opinion and many of our stakeholders no longer think it is appropriate for F1 to be sponsored by the tobacco industry. We have listened to their views and agree." . . .

"For many years now, our marketing strategy has been moving away from relying on mass media as we believe it more important to focus our efforts on the point of sale in the outlets that adult smokers use," he added.

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