Thursday, November 18, 2021
125 million euros per year
Ferrari loses title sponsor after 48 years
In fact, Formula 1 has long since imposed a ban on tobacco advertising. Nevertheless, tobacco companies continue to advertise in the racing series – albeit no longer explicitly. One of the big profiteers is Ferrari – whose main sponsor has now decided to withdraw in view of the restrictions.
Scuderia Ferrari needs a new main sponsor. As the “Gazzetta dello Sport” reports, the contract with the US group Philip Morris International (PMI), which expires at the end of the current season, will not be extended. Both sides have been working together for 48 years, and it shouldn’t be a complete exit – but according to media reports, the Italian Formula 1 team is already looking for a successor for the role of title sponsor. The world’s largest privately-owned manufacturer of tobacco products is to transfer around 125 million euros annually to Maranello.
“We are still in talks with PMI,” said Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto recently. Although it is “very likely that PMI will stay”, “perhaps not as the title sponsor”. For many observers, the fact that no progress in the negotiations has been announced for months is a clear indication that the tobacco company is withdrawing. “We have to wait,” said Binotto. However, it is certain that Ferrari is already looking for alternatives.
Ferrari’s Formula 1 team has officially been running as the “Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow” since 2019, behind the initiative founded by Philip Morris for a tobacco-free future. The lettering “Mission Winnow” has been on the red bolide for around three years, in the current season, among other things, as a striking neon green logo. Not at every race, however. This is to avoid discussions about the interpretation and application of tobacco advertising laws. That should also be one of the decisive reasons why Philip Morris International is rethinking its investments in Formula 1.
“Worldwide dialogue” or “sell for stupid”?
Because even if “Mission Winnow” stands for a tobacco-free future, it is still a branch of the tobacco giant. For decades, Philipp Morris advertised his Marlboro brand on Ferrari and McLaren cars, for example the lettering can be found on all the cars with which Michael Schumacher won his five world championship titles for the Scuderia. McLaren at times even painted the entire car in Marlboro colors.
However, through voluntary self-restraint on the one hand and restrictive laws on the other, tobacco advertising has largely disappeared from Formula 1 in recent years. But the “Mission Winnow” campaign also aroused skepticism and was not seen on the cars in races within the European Union this season – although, according to Philip Morris International, it is about a “global dialogue”, about “innovative ideas” and ” positive change should be about tobacco, not tobacco. Brand expert Franz Maximilian Schmid-Preissler told “Welt” as early as 2019: “For me this is a typical case in which decision-makers believe they can fool people.”
Earlier this year, PMI expressed disappointment with how the campaign was being treated and viewed. “We know about the mistrust and the great skepticism towards our industry” and “we do not want to spark any controversy about the use of the logo”. However, everything now looks as if this disappointment will lead to the decision to leave Scuderia as title sponsor. It wouldn’t be the end of a tobacco producer’s promotion in Formula 1. McLaren, once closely associated with Marlboro and Philip Morris International, is now promoting British American Tobacco. Not explicitly, of course, but with the slogan “A better tomorrow”.