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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Formula 1 Tobacco Sponsorships Create More Controversy [01/23-3]
Excerpts from: Formula 1, Britain and tobacco
GrandPrix.com [01/23/04]
The Formula 1 circus has in recent years been at the forefront of attempts to stop the gradual spread of tobacco advertising bans.
Tobacco sponsorship was the very first commercial sponsorship in Grand Prix racing, arriving at the Monaco Grand Prix of 1968, when Team Lotus drivers Graham Hill and F1 debutant Jackie Oliver ran in Gold Leaf-sponsored cars. In 1972 Philip Morris joined the fray with its Marlboro brand and in the years that followed Gitanes (SEITA), Camel, Rothmans, Mild Seven, Benson & Hedges, West and Lucky Strike all became major players. Formula 1 is one area where the tobacco companies have been able to gain huge exposure and as a result they have been willing to pay a lot more than other sponsors for space on Formula 1 cars.
But the anti-tobacco lobby around the world has become increasingly belligerent. In 1990 the European Union proposed an EU-wide ban on tobacco sponsorship.
In June 1996 the World Health Organisation condemned F1, claiming that Grand Prix racing was a "non-stop commercial" for cigarettes and that races were "venues for the recruitment of new smokers". The WHO called for a worldwide ban on "broadcasts of tobacco advertising masquerading as sports sponsorship".
The British Medical Journal joined the battle by calling for a ban on tobacco sponsorship in sport, saying that studies by academics at Manchester University had revealed that it encourages teenagers to smoke.
The EU has, however, been campaigning against tobacco since the mid 1980s when the European Council of Ministers approved a programme called "Europe Against Cancer" but it was not until July 1998 that the European Council adopted the "Tobacco Advertising Directive", aiming to abolish all tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion in the European Community by the year 2006. This directive was then cancelled by the European Court of Justice in October 2000. The Europeans started the process again but modified the bill so that a ban would be introduced at the end of July in 2005.
Everything was moving towards a global ban on tobacco advertising at the end of 2006.
The decision by the European Union to change the date of the European ban to the end of July 2005 has thrown all these plans into the air.
The WHO anti-tobacco treaty is making progress but in order for it to be effective each national government has to have its own legislation. This is going to take time and so if the tobacco companies do not police themselves as they are committed to do, it could take until 2015 or even 2020 for a global ban to be truly effective. Much of the legislation still allows for races held outside a country to be broadcast into the country with the tobacco logos in place. There are one or two countries where cars are not allowed to run tobacco logos on the cars but the moves against tobacco sponsorship in Europe have hardened attitudes and the Formula One group is now moving of races out of the EU or forcing the governments involved to allow the sport to operate above the law. If a country does not want to change its tobacco laws, it must pay more for a race. This was seen recently in the deal that was struck with Canada.
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