anyone got any conspiracy theories, historical facts or just knowledge on the relationship between tobacco advertising and various racing organizations? obviously racing organizations have to heed to the will of their own sponsors, but damn, tobacco companies seem to have such a lock on the politics of racing. for example, montreal fighting to be on the F1 schedule and having to payoff the sponsors, and recent news of china GP not happening because of anti-tobacco laws. but also stuff like how marlboro alone can be factor in rossi choosing ducati for next year by offering a F1 test. i think its clear tobacco and racing are sleeping in the same bed. but id like to hear what other ppl have to say and know about all this.

 

Think about it from the pure economics of Europe. Seems a lot of people over there smoke. Seems that there is a huge following of Maranello RED cars. WHo has such a color as part of the banner. See where I'm going. Sure it is politics. John Player was a big name on the side of a certain pair of Lotus's weren't they? As to governments getting in the act-it is part of the game. Here in the US we had WINSTON-everything. WHy, because the tobacco company had its grip on smokers. The fact is the product is addictive and that generates revenue. I would question Europe and elsewhere that for some reason allows people to openly smoke from bubble pipes using substances that are banned here. Guess why-it is one of those regional things, a part of the lifestyle in some countries.
Tobacco companies are both good and bad. To my way of thinking Benson & Hedges should be allowed along with the big M to put their name on the car for every race-the logo is there anyway. The alternative is to totally ban the company from participating and that will not happen without a worldwide ban on the products they make and sell.
Just my humble observation

 

My understanding is that the value for tobacco companies is actually driven by "emerging economies" of Southeast Asia, the far East, and South America. China is a HUGE and largely untapped market, for example...

K

BTW - I've been a racing fan since I was a little tyke and probably seen more tobacco ads than most Americans. I've smoked exactly one cigarette in my life. It WAS a Gauloises and happened back when they were sponsoring an F1 car so maybe I was a victim of their manipulation...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by George Knighton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
China = I don't think this is going to be too profitable a new market for them, because the Chinese government is going to see it as a plot to destroy the health and well being of the citizenry.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

What?? China, whose state-owned tobacco company is the largest in the known world is going to see this as a "health" concern?? Nah, don't think so, a market share concern perhaps.

From all the marketing information I had heard about 8-10 years ago, the emerging markets for RJR, PM, etc ... were in Eastern Europe and Asia where there was a large pool of smokers w/out easy access to western brands of smokes. While I was in Russia, there was an influx of western ciggy companies that made the local product virtually obsolete. The western ciggarette manufacturers, if I remember correctly, gained entry by creating jobs there, farming their product abroad rather than at home and their main value was the QC they brought to market regardless of where they farmed the product.

There might not be much value left in the tobacco leg of these companies but the additional markets that companies such as RJR-Nab, PM have their hands in are too long to list. Methinks they dump the tabacco leg of the company before they get to a point of having little value left in the company. As for their participation in motorsports? I'd only be making a guess but I think that it was a loophole in advertising that they were wont to take advantage of and will fight tooth and nail to get back on TV in place of a rival brand because if you think about it, aside from bankrolling a movie to have some close up on a pack of "Salems" its the only way to get their logo on TV.

 

winston is feeling the effects of the lawsuits, and that is a part of the reason they are dropping out as the main sponsor for NASCAR, next year it will not be the Winston Cup Series, it will be the Nextel Cup Series......or something similar since Nextel is going to be the main sponsor

 

Basically, tobacco advertising on TV was restricted. What better way to advertise tobacco than a race car going round and round and being seen over and over on TV? There was more advertising frequency exposure than for a traditional ad spot on TV.

Regulations then forced American tobacco companies to advertise in one series only. That's why Penske couldn't run the full livery in the 2001 Indy 500 and why Marlboro is absent on the Ferraris in the US Grand Prix. Foreign companies are exempt. A good example is Sousa Cruz that owns the Brazilian cigarette brand "Hollywood" which at one time had concurrent sponsorship in CART (Tony Kanaan) and IRL (Felipe Giaffone).

 

I wonder if Newport wants to sponser me. Free cigs would get my car done quicker.

 

I am a lifetime non-smoker, but I'd consider smoking 2 packs a day if RJR would sponsor my car.

 

Less "simple marketing technique for a company with limited options" and more conspiracy theories.

#1: F1 exhaust emissions may contain carbon monoxide -- just like cigarettes. Cig makers think if they can get you hooked on the smell of exhaust... and they you just happen to see a cigarette brand, you will be hooked.

#2 Cig makers sporsor racing in order to get a share of the technology so that when they become international fugitives for marketing deadly products, they will be able to out run the police.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Batoutahell &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am a lifetime non-smoker, but I'd consider smoking 2 packs a day if RJR would sponsor my car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmmm, around here smokes are like $5/pak. 5x2x365 = $3,650 a year you'd use to sponsor yourself, hehe