Tobacco’s Influence on Formula 1
Cover Art by Eman Azrak
Formula 1’s First Buzz
Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsports. Ask any fan of motorsports to tell you the best racing series to watch in terms of skill and performance. Formula 1 will always be in that conversation, as an exclusive, money-driven racing series that generally accepts only the best drivers that Formula racing has to offer. It has multiple junior series, similar to the minor leagues in American baseball, to develop and foster talent: Formula 2, Formula 3, and Formula 4. Each race car in Formula 1 has a multitude of sponsors that adorn the livery and paint of the car. These sponsors generate funding for each of the current ten teams to develop the car, upgrade during the season, and allocate funds towards other expenses needed to stay competitive with each other.
From the 1970s and 1980s to the mid-2000s, tobacco companies have had an influence in different Formula 1 teams, having each car or driver adorn a brand or logo of a tobacco product. The first Formula 1 team to implement any sort of sponsorship directly onto the livery of the car was Team Gunston at the 1968 South African Grand Prix, featuring a car adorning the color of Gunston cigarettes. Team Lotus followed this closely, featuring a car with the colors of Imperial Tobacco’s Gold Leaf cigarettes (Figure 1) starting at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix (MAB). Sponsorships became increasingly important to secure funding as the sport continued to mature from its start in 1950 and liveries began to resemble the colors of the major sponsors of each team. Many iconic drivers and cars in Formula 1 feature tobacco advertising on their race suit or livery of the car. The legendary Ayrton Senna in his 1988 McLaren MP4/4 (Figure 2), one of the most recognizable and successful Formula 1 cars ever built, features heavy Marlboro cigarette branding and colors.
Figure 1: Graham Hill’s Lotus 49B at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix (Culp)
Figure 2: Ayrton Senna’s 1988 McLaren MP4/4 (Lannuier)
Barcodes with a Mission
Iconic tobacco branding on Formula 1 liveries changed drastically when the EU Tobacco Advertising Directive prohibited tobacco advertising of cross-border events or activities across all EU member states starting in July 2005 (Grez). The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of Formula 1, recommended against tobacco advertising in 2006. Tobacco advertising on cars seemingly dissipated overnight… except for Ferrari.
Philip Morris International (PMI), the owner of the Marlboro brand, is almost synonymous with Formula 1. Since 1972, Marlboro and PMI have been affiliated with multiple Formula 1 teams including McLaren and Ferrari, of which the sponsorship with McLaren started in 1974 and came to a close in 1996 (Reid et al.). PMI has sponsored Ferrari since 1973 with Marlboro advertising and currently injects monetary support into the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 Team (Reid et al.; Scuderia Ferrari Official Partners). In the 2007 season, while other teams did not feature tobacco advertising on their cars due to the EU directive and FIA recommendation, Ferrari decided to put a barcode design on their car which seemingly resembled the Marlboro brand (Figure 3).
Figure 3: The Ferrari F2007 with Barcodes on the Livery (Powell)
This barcode was supposed to subvert the EU Tobacco Advertising Directive and the FIA recommendation by giving subliminal messages to the audience. It represented Marlboro cigarettes without using the actual brand trademark on Ferrari cars (Grant-Braham and Britton). This barcode heavily resembled the Marlboro design and prior placement of the trademark on the car, evoking images of the brand even without a direct link to the Marlboro name. This is a prime example of alibi marketing. For three Grand Prix—Bahrain, Monaco, and Chinese—Ferrari used the Marlboro logo in place of the barcode since there was not a ban on tobacco advertising during these races (Grant-Braham and Britton). For every other grand prix on the 2007 schedule, this barcode design was used exactly where the Marlboro logo resided. In 2010, Ferrari was forced to remove this barcode design to appease the critics as they were, justifiably, facing accusations that the barcode was sufficiently similar to the Marlboro logo (Grant-Braham and Britton). Since 2010, PMI has continued to sponsor Ferrari without Marlboro or other cigarette brandings on the livery of the cars, until a certain livery advertisement for a brand appeared on the Ferrari cars in 2018: Mission Winnow.
“Mission Winnow is a change lab focused on reframing conversations, sparking open debate, connecting people and supporting the realization of innovative ideas” (Mission Winnow: A change lab for progress). Sounds good enough, until you figure out that Mission Winnow was made by PMI to promote corporate social responsibility. Why go through all this trouble to promote a corporate social responsibility change lab for your tobacco company? Well, the answer is pretty simple when you look at the 2018 Ferrari SF71H Formula 1 car beginning at the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix. Mission Winnow branding is seen on the car, inadvertently promoting PMI products through the lens of corporate social responsibility (Motorsport Sponsorship). PMI was trying to retain a visible presence in Formula 1, much to the criticism of different countries. In 2018 and 2019, Mission Winnow was voluntarily removed from the livery of the car in countries where there were strict tobacco advertising rules. Mission Winnow was not seen on the car in 2020, but made a return in 2021 in races outside of the EU (Larkam). Starting from 2022, Mission Winnow is not seen on the livery of the car, likely due to the controversy that it generated (Smith). As of 2023, Mission Winnow still sponsors the Ferrari F1 team and does not seem to be leaving anytime soon (Scuderia Ferrari Official Partners).
A Better Tomorrow?
In 2019, McLaren signed a sponsorship and advertising deal with British American Tobacco (BAT) to promote their “Better Tomorrow” campaign, a part of the “Transforming Tobacco” initiative (Motorsport Sponsorship). The initiative advocates for “potentially reduced risk” items such as their vape devices and heated tobacco products. Rather than using a corporate social responsibility campaign like Mission Winnow, McLaren and BAT decided to advertise alternative tobacco products directly on the car (Figure 4).
Figure 4: BAT’s Product LYFT Can be Seen on the Side of the 2019 McLaren MCL34 (Raich)
There is an emphasis on the battery and technology side of the collaboration, not the tobacco and nicotine side itself. The CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, said that “We don’t have any relationship with the tobacco side of the business” (Motorsport Sponsorship). A bold comment, considering that McLaren is receiving direct cash inflows from BAT towards the team. The advertising is only used in races where strict advertising rules do not apply, similar to the Mission Winnow branding for Ferrari. This means no advertising in the EU. In June 2019, BAT commented that they would be using the “Better Tomorrow” branding “in line with local legal and regulatory environments and what makes sense for our brands” (Motorsport Sponsorship).
With vaping connected to long-term risk of respiratory disease, BAT’s branding could cause direct harm through its advertising. Young audiences who watch Formula 1 are especially at-risk, with the Center for Disease Control stating that “tobacco company advertising and promotion influences young people to start using tobacco” (Tobacco Industry Marketing). With BAT being associated with McLaren and Formula 1, a young person who enjoys Formula 1 may be influenced to try one of their products. With all of the criticism that Mission Winnow generated for being affiliated with PMI, BAT and their products have been able to stay on McLaren liveries without as much criticism as if Marlboro made a return directly onto a Formula 1 livery. Without direct branding towards cigarettes and tobacco themselves, BAT and McLaren have made a case for tobacco company branding to continue for years to come. With regards to tobacco involvement in Formula 1 and tobacco company advertising, “A Better Tomorrow” will not come anytime soon.
References
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