Singha back Red Bull, but for how long?

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Could alcohol sponsors face a tobacco-style ban?

Mixing Red Bull and beer might not sound like a good idea, but the team has joined Brawn in announcing a new alcohol sponsor.

Thai brand Singha will put its logos on Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel’s race suits and cars for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

But alcohol sponsorship deals in F1 could soon come under threat. Last week the British Medical Association called for a ban on alcohol brands sponsoring sporting events.

Could alcohol advertising soon go the same way as tobacco advertising? If it did the impact would likely not be as great – many F1 teams had tobacco brands as title sponsors in the mid-nineties, but non of them have alcohol brands as title sponsors today.

Today the only F1 team with a tobacco sponsor is Ferrari, whose official name on the FIA entry list is Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. They are responsible for the barcode design on the F60’s airbox and rear wing.

Other alcohol sponsors currently active in F1 include Johnnie Walker (McLaren), Kingfisher (Force India, also an airline brand) and Brawn’s new sponsor for the Brazilian Grand Prix, Itaipava.

Alcohol and motor racing could be seen as a particularly poor match given the strong laws against drink-driving. Johnnie Walker address this by using Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen in their campaigns against drink-driving.

Do you think alcohol sponsors should be allowed in F1?

Press release

Red Bull Racing announces Race Partner
More Singha for Suzuka

Even though we are owned by an energy drink company, we recognise the value of a good beer. Red Bull Racing is therefore pleased to announce that existing supplier, Singha Beer, the longest established beer from Thailand, is increasing its support of the team for the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix, by upgrading to ‘Race Partner’.

The expanded relationship will see the Singha logo appear on the RB5 cars and on the drivers’ race suits over the Grand Prix weekend at Suzuka.

Voravud Bhirombhakdi, Strategic Partnership and Event Manager of Singha Corporation and the fourth generation of the Singha family commented: “Singha Corporation has long been the biggest supporter of Thailand’s motorsport. Becoming a Race Partner with Red Bull Racing will place Singha on the international motorsport scene, which is in line with the company’s international market expansion.”

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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110 comments on “Singha back Red Bull, but for how long?”

  1. Yes. It takes an incredibly stupid person to see branding in F1 and think ‘I’d like to use that product while driving.’ I can’t imagine motorsport with alcohol advertising has any impact on drink-drive offences.

    1. The argument that the alcohol industry gives for not banning their advertising is that the advertising itself doesn’t encourage people to drink more, it only effects which brands they purchase when they do drink.
      I believe that is MOSTLY the case for adults, but I also think that the psychology of advertising is considerably more complex than most people are aware of, and the effect of seeing brand names and logos of potentially harmful products everywhere on those growing up is a possible cause for concern. A large proportion of people around my age (I’ll say a few years short of twenty, and even below that) drink regularly and get themselves drunk nearly as often. I couldn’t say how much of that is down to social pressure, or if the pressure to drink is fuelled by advertising, but still I do think that advertising has a larger impact than most people here give it credit (or debit if you want) for.

  2. The EU senators are a bunch of hypocrites. Did the banning of tobacco advertising on f1 cars bring down cancer deaths? Or have tobacco users shied away from using it? I personally am DEAD against tobacco products, but the tobacco based livery cars were the best looking cars in history . I think EU must chuck this rule. Tobacco & F1 are synonymous.

    1. Indeed, take the Lotus-JPS livery, for instance

      1. Still my favourite.

        1. I preferred the Jordan 7-Up car, myself.
          Did I hear a rumour that USF1 were going to be sponsored by Pepsi?

    2. I miss tobacco advertising. When I watched F1 as a kid, it never made me want to start smoking…

  3. Sebastien Carter
    18th September 2009, 13:03

    I don’t understand how Ferrari can still use Tobacco as a title sponsor. Does the law only say that you can’t have visible sponsorship?

    I suppose they are doing the same thing that Jordan did with Benzon and Hedges in the early 2000s

    1. “Buzzing Hornets” etc.

    2. Even I’m confused on that issue. We had so may instances where tobacco ads were replaced with some funny names. For instance

      Rothmans= ??
      West= Mika,David,Kimi,juan Pablo
      Marlboro= bar code
      Lucky Strike=Don’t Walk,Look Alike
      Benson & Hedges= Be On Edge,Buzzin Hornets
      Mild Seven= Team Spirit

      So people always associate a livery with a particular brand name. I dunno why this pseudo attitude.

      1. Rothmans » Racing (on the 1996 Williams)

        West » East (on the late-80s Zakspeed)

        Benson & Hedges » Bitten & Hisses

        1. I seem to remember that tobacco branding with obvious changed wording has now been banned too, so that Team Spirit, Look Alike, Bitten & Hisses, Buzzin Hornets, Be On Edge etc. would now be illegal.

          1. I still think the Marlboro bar code thing is pretty obvious, but then I guess I am rather over-exposed to their branding!

            By the way, does anyone know if they still sponsor Penske in Indy Cars? No logos but same colours…

          2. Still looks good to me, and doesn’t make me want to start smoking…..

          3. hmmmm, the link is not working.

            go to http://www.penskeracing.com

          4. Not only are they still sponsored by Philip Morris (Marlboro), but Miller beer too!!!

            Man, I really want a smoke and beer now…

          5. In the early/mid-90s, Penske and McLaren were similar in a lot of ways: big sponsors (Marlboro, Hugo Boss, Mobil), the red and white livery, Mercedes/Ilmor engines, even famously meticulous and hard-nosed team principals (Roger and Ron).

            But McLaren moved on from the red-and-white livery over a decade ago, while Penske still runs it. The only Marlboro influence I can see anywhere is the white-on-red triangle on the drivers’ firesuits, same design as Schumi and Ferrari had for so many years.

            I’m not sure why PhillipMorris doesn’t have Penske run the barcode design–it’s the closest thing they have to a motorsports brand on the Ducati and Ferrari. I guess it wouldn’t look as good on the predominantly white Penske as it does on the Italian machines.

          6. Team Penske still runs the Marlboro livery and in this country it isnt illeagal yet for racing to have tobacco sponsors but there was some agreement that only 1 series could be the sponsored by a tobacco product so Penske got Marlboro for the us because of more exposure and when F1 came the Ferraris had to change their livery slightly, but only in that it couldnt have the name. Winston was nascar and so on.
            I dont believe it has changed yet as the cars still run the sponsors, maybe not as bold as they did.

          7. Phillip Morris can afford to sponsor Ferrari in this manner because of the sheer recognition of the Marlboro brand. Like I always say, the two things you can find in any remote corner of the world are, Coke and Marlboros.

  4. yeah in this economic climate, f1 needs all the sponsor money it can get!

  5. Red Bull Racing is therefore pleased to announce that existing supplier, Singha Beer…

    Existing supplier? No wonder they have looked a bit wobbly lately.

  6. But alcohol sponsorship deals in F1 could soon come under threat. Last week the British Medical Association called for a ban on alcohol brands sponsoring sporting events.

    Sorry EU but F1 isn’t a sport, just ask India, LOOPHOLE!.

    1. Good Spot!! F1 is “NOT at all a sport . Formula One is cheating,gambling,Lying,Spying,Sadomasochisming, Hitler praising, crashing, misleading, incriminating, intimidating, court marshaling etc etc. These are usually not the words used to describe a “SPORT”. HATS OFF TO THE INDIAN GOVT!!! They were correct all the time.

      Bring on Tobacco!!!!

      1. ha…ha..haaaa!!!
        good one! :)

      2. bring back James Hunt I say, the Smoking scallywag, no tobacco advertising?, rubbish i say, the Ferrari paint job is worked out from the ground up to look like a packet of Marlboro doing a million miles an hour.

        1. thats why i like kimi, he is his own man and makes no apologies for it

          1. Yeah, the only thing Kimi doesn’t have is the “Sex: Breakfast of Champions” button on his suit… :)

  7. Motorsport in itself is dangerous. So why start banning everything?!

    I banged my knee on my desk. So Ikea should be banned.

    1. That’s gods punishment for buying their furniture …

      1. good one..good quick witt

  8. @ joe garnett lol good one

    if this is the case Santander should be banned for losing money and making the recession worse same goes for the RBS its safer to put your money in your pillow.

    This is a mans sport not some kids sport like football lol where is all the cool stuff going in our sport? soon it will be as boring as watching golf. F1 used to be so cool from the 50s to the 80s with all the cars, women and alcohol what is happening because this is not what the fans love as a motorsport. Formula 1 isnt a sport ITS LIFE!!!!!!!!!

    1. F1 is my religion, all my neighbors go to church, I go to my 47 inch tv that I bought just to watch the great unsport of f1. Anyways my thoughts, if you’ve got the money and you want it on a car we aren’t commies we are “free” aren’t we lets friggn’ act like it. Governments are too conrolling anymore, it’s just utterly rediculus. I’d be a mountain man living in alaska with no retarded rules if it weren’t for my f1 fix that i need.

  9. I remember in the early days of the Red Bull F1 team reading a report which speculated an ideal sponsor would be a Vodka company because of the drink combination vodbull, but Red Bull dismissed this because they didn’t endorse vodbull and saw Red Bull as an energy drink only.

    Brand association is important to sponsors, such as who are the other sponsors of a team etc. If you look at the adverts where Vodafone and Santander use their F1 sponsorship with McLaren they don’t allow Johnnie Walker to be shown but they seem okay with the other sponsors, for example at the top of Hamilton’s visor on his helmet it should say Johnnie Walker but on the recent Santander scalextric style TV advert here in the UK there is just a blank black space instead.

  10. I have watched F1 since I was 10 years old in 1996. Since seeing Damon Hill win the world title I smoked 20 packs a day, first Rothmans then Benson & Hedges. With the success of Michael Schumacher I then became hooked on Malboros. The second these were banned I stopped smoking and have never wanted to smoke since. Unfortunately, I am now a raging alcoholic. Lewis Hamilton winning the title in 2008 sent me over the edge. Please save me, EU! And whilst you’re at it, ban mobile phone sponsorship as I am cognitively incapable of changing from my Vodafone contract which is a pile of rubbish.

    1. A small bit of sarcasm creeping in there?? :D

    2. I think that must be the problem, everyone consumes whatever they see written on an F1 car…

  11. Alcohol shouldn’t advertise anything. People don’t need any encouragement to drink

    1. Agreed, any branding which makes us more insensitive to it and normalises substance abuse, should be outlawed. Its quite fantastic the subliminal strength of this type of product placement, which is why the brands are so willing to invest in it. I hate the thought of a nanny state but sometimes we do need protecting, especially when we are unaware of whats going on.

      1. You know what? If I see and advertisment for a drink I have never had before, I won’t go out buy and jump in my car or become an alchoholic. I will buy it and drink it yes, but that is it. That is all the ad companies want you to do. All they have to do is get each person to buy it once and they have made millions.
        If someone becomes an alchoholic, it isn’t because of an ad. People become alchoholics because they see people drinking.
        Alchohol ads don’t target alchoholics, they target the casual drinker.
        If someone doesn’t want to smoke or drink, an ad won’t make them start.

      2. Your not serious are you? Do you really think that people are that easily swayed into a life of misery by seeing sponsorship on a car? Or are you just another one of those that think we must protect the world from itself?
        Get real, life is tough, wear a helmet.

  12. I don’t think alcohol sponsoring should be banned. I do think it is good attention is giving to educate about proper use, and the dangers of abuse, and that drinking and driving is a no-no. What about other sponsors? Investment banks ban because their investment options might be risky leading to financially ruined people? Pharmaceutical companies because prescription drugs can be abused?

    Yes, F1 cars with tobacco sponsors looked soooo cool, but that is exactly the problem. They created this image of smoking=cool, which is why I think the ban on tobacco advertisement is good, you don’t want the coolest racing cars supporting this fiction. Nobody will stop smoking from the ban, but at least young (stupid) impressionable people might lose the idea someday that smoking is cool. If you want to smoke, fine, your choice, don’t do it around me, and instead of making you cool know it makes you stink and look like a sad addict standing on the street next to the door laying a smokescreen.

    1. A message from the White House.

  13. @Nik – I guess you also have your life savings in an ING account, are constantly twitchy because of all the Red Bull you drink, and have to put up with the misery of working out in a Virgin gym… :)

    1. Good point, come to think of it I dont use the products or services from at least 99% of the sposors in F1, so they have wasted their money on me.
      All sponsors should leave f1 now because I am not utilizing their wares.

  14. @Bart – agree entirely.

    I’m a smoker, but the idea of encouraging impressionable (young) people to start is abhorrant. I guess I’m going to have to knock it on the head at some point in the near future anyway…

    Alcohol sponsorship, although a strange combination, is okay in my view.

    What industry other than tobacco has the financial clout to be F1 sponsors?

    Also, due to their forever diminishing customer base and the increase in anti-smoking legislation, tobacco companies would never want their drivers to advocate giving up smoking. But the alcohol brands will actively push the drivers to get involved in anti drink-driving campaigns.

    (I’ll have a Bacardi and Michael Schumacher please barman…)

    If a delicate balance can be maintained, such as “drink our products, but get a cab home”, I think it can work.

    Besides, racing on Forza Motorsport with a few beers is the best fun ever…

    I’m off for a fag…

  15. Who would seriously take up smoking or start drinking irresponsibly because of an F1 livery?

    The BMA thinks we’re robots programmed by the advertising industry. No one has told them that ordinary people are capable of controlling themselves and making their own decisions.

    1. When I was at school, (many years ago) kids who smoked chose the gold B&H brand because of the cool surreal adverts. Advertising works otherwise nobody would spend millions on promoting their brands.

      As for booze, I don’t want to see a ban on advertising. Fags and booze are two very different things.

      1. No, they are not. Fag causes lung cancer & booze causes liver cancer.

        1. One is a liquid, the other is a gas. Two very different things. At least on this planet.

          1. Tiomkin, they may be two different products but the reason for banning them is the same.
            They’re both incredibly bad for your health.

          2. To mark hitchcock, isn’t a drink a day good for your heart? If they want to get rid of alcohol the podium ceremonies will be boring, well more boring.

          3. you could argue, though, that there is no safe level of tobacco consumption, but there is evidence that there is a level of safe alcohol consumption and in some cases, it can be good for you (although not all alcohol products are the same eg. Merlot vs. Vodka, and yes there is contradictory evidence on the exact health benefits/damage of alcohol consumption).
            But there is a shift away from the responsibility of the individual, and action and consequences, to legislation from states. To What level should this be taken? There is no doubt that advertising is the attempt to manipulate peoples purchasing and hence consumption patterns, but if there is also widespread public education, starting in schools, then surely the responsibility can be put back onto the individual. As long as the companies are made to pay for this education.

  16. I’m suprised Jagermaister doesn’t sponsor Red Bull as they go hand in hand (Jagerbomb) and Jagermaister have sponsored in motorsport before.

  17. next they will bann finns from racing since they drive on vodka.

    I’ve watched Formula 1 since 1996 also when i was 9 years old and ive never had a craving to want to smoke or drink whisky ever. and i have never been infuenced by this because its just a bunch of buzzkillers using the same crap “think of the childern” or “your adverts are killing my children ohhh the horror” stfu plz if you dont like the adverts on the cars get lost and watch cricket. im sick and tired of watching the goverments trying to make this into the next NFL franchise and that every driver has to look dorkey like Lewis Hamilton and is an upright citizen, i think i will puke and never watch F1 again until another Finn comes in half drunk. graham hill would be turning in his or smoking in F1 because they are the heart of Formula 1 and what makes F1 so cool in the past. and i think getting rid of the booze you get rid of the women and the death of Formula 1 begins. what next speed bumps or a national speed limit on the tracks to not persuade idiots to drive fast?

    1. Exactly! I was 6 years old when i started watching F1 in 1993. I’ve seen them all,marlboro,rothmans,west,windfield,lucky strike,mild seven,555, camel etc. But never ever did i develop the slightest inclination towards tobacco products. But still i found them to be very cool :) In fact i own all the tobacco based livery jackets & shirts. Managed to get rothmans jacket with very great difficulty, even had Nacional stitched separately by a tailor. I like tobacco based liveries, but hate tobacco products.

      The Pseudo attitude towards tobacco will only lead to more cancer deaths.

      1. I grew up in a family of smokers that grew the product also…virtually none of the children or cousins (and there are alot of us) ever smoked.
        It is an aquired habit that if your parents just show you a few reasons why not to youo wont ever do it. But you have to have parents that truly care.
        By the way, your the same age as my daughter.

    2. You’ve got a problem with the NFL?

  18. “graham hill would be turning in his grave if fast cars, women, booze and smoking was taken away from formula 1”

    mistype

  19. Guilherme Teixeira
    18th September 2009, 16:36

    God… you people doesn’t seem to understand a thing about advertising…

    It is not a question of “hey, we put our stickers on a F1 car and then the F1 fans will start smoking because we associate our image with the sport!”.

    It has to do with showing the brand. Put it in people’s minds. When I was a a kid, the first time I was advertising of brand like Luke Strike, Mild Seven, West, etc, was from F1. When I fisrt saw a Luke Strike box, i thought “hey, I’ve seen this on F1!”.

    I mean, I don’t smoke (and plan to never do), but if I did, I could be well smoking Marlboros or Lukies because their brands were shown everywhere, and not because of F1 specificaly.

    It is not a question of people starting to smoke cigarette brands whose stickers are on the winning cars.

    1. Guilherme Teixeira
      18th September 2009, 16:45

      It strikes me why people here are so against banning this kind of advertising.

      What do they get with it? Do this people make money from this advertising? Are they employees at Phillip & Morris? Is it just because the cars were “beautiful”? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder… So will we promote cigarettes and alcohol just because the cars were nice?! And to think it has no effect whatsoever is just rubbish…

      1. Luke Strike box

        I’m convinced you are a tobacco hater, just like me ;)

        Its not “Luke strike”, its Lucky Strike :)

        1. Guilherme Teixeira
          18th September 2009, 18:06

          LOL! Had a brain-fade with this “Luke” thing =P
          Thanks.

          And yes, I am indeed a tobacco (and alcohol) hater. I wish all kind of advertising on these things were gone for good.

          1. Very good Tex- I don’t agree about the accohol, but I am 100% behind you on the smoking issue.

      2. It strikes me why people here are so against banning this kind of advertising.

        What do they get with it?

        The satisfaction of knowing that we’re not slaves to advertising?

        Look, I accept that some people will get hooked on ciggies if F1 cars will promote them. I’m even sympathetic to them. But come on, take some individual responsibility for yourselves. There’s no happy medium here. We can’t allow the promotion of some types of things and not others. If Ferrari was sponsored by Mcvities’ biscuits, would we all suddenly become obese?

        What we are actually against is the idea that putting something on something else to make it look cool will enslave everyone. Obviously it works on some people but that’s something they have to get over for themselves, otherwise they’ll never learn self-control. If the extreme of people doing something just because of an advert is true, then the opposite extreme of having weak, pliable people who’ll do everything you tell them to because they’ve been protected by a lack of advertising, instead of learning to ignore it, is also true.

        I hate cigarettes and I believe they should be outlawed entirely. In that sense, I actually agree with banning advertising it. But this idea that we need to be saved by the EU from everything is ridiculous. If you want to stop people from smoking, ban it altogether. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say something’s so bad that you can’t promote it and yet keep it legal. So you either allow the advertising or you ban it entirely. I don’t agree that it should be advertised at all, but what I agree with even less is this hypocrisy. I’d rather have some people hooked on cigarettes and some not than everyone being a non-smoker just because we’ve been told not to be. You can’t make it a moral issue of saving people from the evils of smoking whilst still allowing cigarettes to be sold. That’s like me saying we should ban all TV and movie scenes that portray robberies but keep theft legal.

        The second people stop blaming McDonald’s for their kids being fat and take some personal responsibility is the second we won’t need this kind of government “salvation”.

  20. You know people of this world need to take responsibilities for their own actions for once, and stop blaming their short comings on other people/things. If you can’t handle a few drinks then that’s your problem, if you can’t stop smoking that’s your problem. I know one thing is for sure when I smoke a cigar and drink a beer or 10, I know for damn sure that stuff is going to kill me, and I don’t blame anyone but myself. Those commercials didn’t make me do it I picked up the beer and the smokes on my own. So grow up and stop blaming people/things for your responsibilities. Just my 2.

    1. Precisely. Do advertisers think we don’t know what to do with ourselves unless we see instructions on the side of a car?

      1. My government doesnt think I know how to run my life or know what is good or bad for me.
        They must take control of every aspect of my life.

  21. These days the advertising consultants are all “EPIC FAIL”. I mean just look at that Renault, just compare it to Mild Seven Renault. Same goes to Vodafone,RBS,Panasonic etc. At least they can design their livery to appeal the f1 spectator. But instead they choose lifeless schemes. TBVH , none of the present cars look graceful. The last graceful looking cars in f1 were the Silver-Black Mclaren & the Blue Renault.

    just look at this beauty Of course no tobacco.

    ING,Vodafone,Santander,Mubadala,Red Bull,Petronas are all “EPIC FAILURE” in terms of liveries. Tasteless companies.

    1. You think those are all bad liveries? Or you think that we NEED tobacco companies to have good paint jobs in F1? Wake up and smell the coffee my friend…

      I rather like the McLaren scheme, same even for ING before this season. If teams can’t design a good-looking car, fire the designers and get a new firm.

    2. Umm the reason it says “Kimi” on the side is because it should say “West”…

  22. I think alcohol advertising is already banned in France. If I recall correctly Williams had Bud sticker replaced with something else because of that.

    Tobacco advertising should be banned – people need to know about the dangers, especially as second-hand smoking can be harmful to others. I don’t want to get a smoking-related disease just because my coworker is smoking. 20 years ago it was completely normal to smoke in an office and public transport. Thank god times change…
    Liveries being ”cool” is just what tobacco companies wanted. It is all about brand recognition when you are in store. I remember when Red Bull launched their car this season some fans were saying they will have to try Red Bull Cola, some admitting they never heard of it before seeing it on the car…

    1. Good catch, Lewis didn’t havethe Johnnie Walker stripe on his helmet in Magny Cours

  23. Must admit I am one of those Red Bull cola guys you mention gabal lol. Never even noticed before the start of this season but walking round Asda the other month I saw some and just had to try it.

    Its not bad actually by the way, just slightly over priced haha.

  24. After the alcohol ban, what is the next target?

    1. it will be the women on the starting grid next thinking its “sexist”

      1. Don’t give them ideas.

        1. I do agree with you on that one ;) but Valencia last year alreadny beat you to the punch with the “grid boys” last season….yuck!!!

      2. Yeah really. The (American) company where my wife worked sponsored a car and so did Penthouse. So there were scantilly clad girls around a lot and they were even handing out free nudy mags now and then.

        On of the female employees of the company felt it was sexist and demanded the company ended the sponsorship and she alerted the American headquarters. In the end they had to abandon the sponsoring.

        Utterly lame.

  25. Isn’t “Royal Challenge” (a Force India sponsor) also an alcohol brand?

    All this talk of tobacco sponsors in F1 is making me think of the Black and gold Lotus-es. The best tobacco/ F1 partnership… ever.

  26. quote:Alcohol and motor racing could be seen as a particularly poor match given the strong laws against drink-driving. Johnnie Walker address this by using Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen in their campaigns against drink-driving.

    This advertising ploy is a cynical cop-out by the Johnny Walker concern. I am suprised at the gullibility of anyone connected with it – but …..money talks.

  27. Ban petrol and motor sponsors from F1 because they produce polution…

  28. Hers a sensible solution – Could they not bring back tobacco sponsorship but just slap the goverment health warnings on the side pods as standard like they do on the fag packets. Poblem Solved.

  29. i don’t think alcohol ads should be banned, but there is an opportunity for for someone to step up:

    http://www.motorsportsforum.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/normal_a099.jpg

    1. Wasn’t there a team in the 70s which was sponsored by Durex???

      Imagine pharmaceutical companies jumping in too, like Pfizer, hawking products like Viagra or Cialis… :D

  30. I know they’re for health but honestly if they were that bad then we wouldn’t be allowed to drink or smoke. I get sick of EU banning things; it’s a free economy and we have free choice seeing fag names branded on cars has never made me want to light one up. The only problem with alcohol sponsorship is that it’s a bit bad taste with mixing drinking and driving but still no-one watches f1 to see what’s written on the cars.
    David Smith plenty of the cars are ugly enough thi8s year without seeing a manky lung on the back wing :

  31. at the end of the day if people want to drink or smoke it’s going to happen. period!

  32. Asbestos is a bigger killer than cigarettes. But they dont tell you that!

  33. I must say that I disagree with the vast majority of you….I absolutley LOVE it that tobacco sponsorship is banned/discouraged from F1 and other motor sports. I hate smoking and everything about it, and the further we move towards snuffing it out completely, the happier I become:)

    Here in America, we’ve made good progress- no more “cool” figures such as Joe Camel or the Marlboro Man, and no magazine ads or billboards. We’ve also got the warnings on the sides of the pack- ours come from the Surgeon General, who is sort of the national doctor- and TV advers have been long gone, I was born in 1986 and have never seen one in my life!!

    I’ll be the first to tell you that I would NEVER be as comitted to the sport today if tobacoc was still featured like it was in the 80’s and 90’s- McLaren would never have gotten a number of my hard-earned dollars for some shirts/hats/jackets/etc.. if they had West or Marlboro instead of Vodafone. It’s the same thing that stops me from buying any Ducati merchandise despite being a big Nicky Hayden fan…

    So in short, yes- keep tobacco banned!1 And as I said in an earlier post, get better designers if the current ones can’t build a good livelry without tobacco.

  34. As for the achohol, I don;t view that as nearly bad as tobacco, as I’ve always taken it that achohol in moderation is a good thing. But since I see so much of NASCAR, I can say that that series has moved with F1 away from tobacco, but has become more open to achohol…

    In terms of driver, team sponsorship, beer is very visible in the sport, with Miller getitng plenty of plugs with Kurt Busch, and Bud getitng big exposure with Dale Jr. and now Kasey Kane. In fact, the sport went towards more drinks with allowing hard liquer brands such as Jack Daniels and Jim Beam back in. Still, some are censored in the same manner as the McLaren/Jonny Walker stuff you mentioned….in all the NASCAR video games the achohol sponsosrs are blurted out.

  35. Arrgh Hell, if it dont give ya cancer, it aint no fun.

  36. Prisoner Monkeys
    19th September 2009, 5:47

    I don’t see why alochol branding is a problem, and I think the call for its ban is a byproduct of an overly politically-correct scoiety. These advocates are like environemntalists who think that humans should all give up modern life and go back to living in trees, or militant feminists who think the only way women can be happy is by living as man-hating separatist lesbians.

  37. Cockney James Hunt
    19th September 2009, 8:07

    Alcohol, when consumed in moderation, can be beneficial to ones health. Smoking, in whatever circumstances you care to mention, is unhealthy and potentially lethal if consumed regulary, regardless of how responsibly it’s imbibed. That’s the difference. I see nothing wrong with a little booze on F1 cars. Now, whose round is it, I’ll have a single malt.

  38. Forgetting how bad for your health they are; they are both legal to have if you want and we are meant to lvie in a democracy. I hate, hate cigarettes but if people want to do that then that is fine, if the companies want to give money to teams and the teams accept then that is their choice. I’m not going to dictate to others just because I don’t like something, smokers know it’s bad for their health but it’s up to them.

  39. Governments are being sooo hypocritical. If alcohol / tobacco / mobile phone use or whatever is somehow bad enough to merit a ban on it being advertised, they should be prepared to ban the product. If they don’t have the guts to do that, then they should let it be advertised.
    Where’s the logic in banning the advert and allowing the product? Which does the harm?

  40. The idea that people see the name and want to take up smoking is crap. IF they decide to buy some cigarettes and they see the brands in front of them and they recognise one, then they would be more likely to buy that because they know the name. But just the name by itself means nothing.

    I doubt that anyone sees the AMD logo on the Ferrari and feels the urge to go and buy a new computer. But if they do go looking in the future, they will recognise the logo

    Before reading this article I didn’t know what the hell Kingfisher actually sold and it didn’t make me want to go buy some booze.

    When I was growing up the rugby league here in Australia was sponsored by Winfield. It never made me want to buy smokes… in fact to this day whenever I see or hear the name Winfield I immediately of rugby league

  41. Johnny Five because government’s tend to get tax from cigarettes and alcohol, so they’ll never ban them when they can make money just stop sponsorship so no-one else can benefit.

  42. Steph90: So the more cigarettes and alcohol get sold, the more tax they make? Heck, on that basis, they should be encouraging advertising of any sort, not looking to ban it.

  43. Well in Britain anyway the goverment gets tax on cigarettes and alcohol and quite a lot too. That’s why it is so annoying.

  44. If we’re going to go down this road of banning alcohol advertising because of the health issues then why not also ban F1 and motorsport in general. After all, how many people have become alcoholics and died from liver problems because of alcohol advertising in sport? Now how many deaths on the road have there been because someone thought they were Nigel Mansell?

    “I’d like to thank Frank Williams” ;-)

  45. Alcohol is by far the WORST drug in the world BAR none…

    Ban the drug before the advertising if they are serious, if not it’s a legal product so they should be allowed to have it on the car etc.

    1. Thank you.
      I believe if it is legal for you to purchase then it should be legal to advertise in any way shape or form. If it is so hoorible a product then make it illegal to sell or posess. Oh we tried that in the early 1900’s and got organised crime for our virtuous morals.

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