Formula 1 Forced to End Tobacco Sponsorship in July 2005
[01/11-4]
Excerpts from: F1 Forced to Try to Kick Tobacco Habit
By Nick Mulvenney Reuters [01/10/05]
Formula One, already cutting costs to fend off a financial crisis
among smaller teams, will this year be forced to face the reality
that the era of dependence on tobacco sponsorship is drawing to a
close.
The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) estimated
in 2002 that tobacco companies contributed $350 million a year to
motorsport and it is fair to assume Formula One took the lion's
share.
From July 31, a European Union (EU) directive will outlaw all print
advertising, radio advertising and event sponsorship by tobacco
companies.
Although other sports, such as snooker and darts, will be affected,
Formula One will be by far the hardest hit.
"If we lose tobacco sponsorship in Formula One there will be a
rupture," Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said before last
season. "People don't realize how bad it would be."
Half of the 10 teams in F1 -- Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Jordan and
BAR -- were substantially backed by cigarette brands in 2004.
Formula One had originally agreed to a voluntary global ban at the
end of 2006 but FIA president Max Mosley said last year that the EU
ban had driven some races outside Europe and cigarette sponsorship
was likely to endure in the sport.
NEW SPONSORS
A report in December said that McLaren were going to drop title
sponsors West cigarettes.
Williams gave up tobacco sponsorship at the end of the 1999 season
and one of their current backers is the NiQuitin CQ brand of
products which help people to give up smoking.
"We did it because we knew the axe would be coming down but we
didn't know when or how," said Williams' head of marketing Jim
Wright. "To continue would have been gambling on our financial
future."
Team owner Frank Williams said last year that sponsorship from
non-cigarette companies was worth 25 to 30 percent less than from
tobacco companies.
There is a school of thought that ridding the sport altogether of
cigarette branding would open the door to more family-friendly
companies.
"There's no evidence to suggest that one way or another," said
Wright. "But I don't think it is the case that Formula One is as
closely identified with tobacco as it was a few years ago."
NEW COUNTRIES
Another way in which F1 might avoid the European ban is by holding
grands prix in new countries. China and Bahrain were added to the
calendar last year, while Turkey joins for 2005.
These countries sometimes offer less restrictive rules on tobacco
sponsorship and, importantly for the cigarette companies, a high
profile in developing economies.
"The tobacco companies are already established in the developing
world," said Deborah Arnott of British pressure group Action on
Smoking and Health (ASH).
"There are about five million people a year dying from
smoking-related diseases at the moment and that is split about
50-50 between the developed and the undeveloped world.
"By 2030 that will be 10 million but the split will be 30 percent
in the developed world and 70 percent in the developing
world."
For many years teams have raced without tobacco liveries at some
races and restored it for races where the local laws allow it, but
that may soon no longer be an option for the seven teams based in,
or with major operations in, Britain.
Depending on the interpretation of the British law which enforces
the EU directive, it could allow for prosecution of any
British-based team carrying tobacco sponsorship abroad if images of
the race are broadcast in Britain. -
http://www.no-smoking.org/jan05/01-11-05-4.html
