80 replies to this topic

[magic]

according to dutch news after 30 years f1 marlboro will quit f1 in 2002.

[Todd]

Could this mean a return to red Ferraris? I think Marlboro is on the hook for the 2002 season, as they have to pay for Michael Schumacher that year. They can probably leave for 2003. I wonder if this will give Ron Dennis an opportunity to realize his MS in an MP4 fantasy? Then again, I don't put any credence on a Dutch source. Lets wait to hear it from a US source.

[Ali_G]

That really is amazing. They have been in the sport since 74. Maybe they are withdrawing from Ferrari cause Ferrari won't give them enough livery space so to look like the McLarens of the past.

imagine if they went back to McLaren.

if this is true this just opens the door for Coca Cola for Ferrari.

Niall

[magic]

HAMBURG - Sigarettenmerk Marlboro trek zich aan het einde van 2002 terug uit de Formule 1. Dit meldt het Duitse blad Focus. Na volgend seizoen zou de tabaksfabrikant Philip Morris alleen nog op de achtergrond een rol willen spelen in de autosport.

Met Marlboro is Philip Morris al dertig jaar sponsor in de Formule 1. Het bedrijf is nu geldschieter van de renstal Ferrari. Het budget voor de diverse activiteiten in de autosport bedraagt volgens Focus zo'n 150 miljoen dollar.

Het plan om de Formule 1 te verlaten, zou te maken hebben met bezuinigingen. Na een aanklacht van een groep rokers dreigt voor Marlboro een schadeclaim van zo'n 74 miljard dollar.

[magic]

HAMBURG - Cigarette brand Marlboro pulls out of f1 end of 2002, according to german magazine Focus. After next season Philip Morris will only want to play a backround role in autosport.

With Marlboro Philip Morris is 30 years sponsor in Formula 1. The company is now sponsor of racingteam Ferrari. The budget for the diverse activities in autosport amounts to150 miljoen dollar according to Focus.

The plan to leave Formula 1has something to do with cutting budgets. After a legal complaint from a group of smokers Marlboro is threathened by a claim of 74 billion dollar.

[Williams]

Well it's bound to happen sooner or later, and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.

[Todd]

Williams,

Ferrari will have corporations begging them to take their money. You should read about the Shell rep that 'landed' the right to give Ferrari about $25 million a year in support. They aren't Jordan or Arrows. They are the number 1 team in auto racing. You should be worried about your favorite UK teams. Ferrari could poach any of their sponsors on a whim. Just like they did to mighty McLaren to take Marlboro.

[P1 Senna]

One word: unfreakinbelievable!

I wonder what implications, if any, this has for Penske Racing?

[Ross Stonefeld]

Richard Branson would pick up the Ferrari tab in a heart beat

[Ross Stonefeld]

sorry...SIR Richard Branson

man that guy would raise the BAR (*cough*) on F1 launches

[Williams]

Todd I guess I was unclear in that last statement. I was talking about the "Marlboro Men" getting sued not about Ferrari losing their sponsor. I am sure Ferrari will be OK.

[Todd]

P1 Senna,

I suspect that Marlboro will stay with Penske until laws make it impossible. I thought it seemed strange for Marlboro to bail on F1 when it is becomming more popular in the US. Then I considered that they can only put their logo on a car in one US series. Maybe they think it is better value to have Marlboro Penskes in a bunch of US races over the Ferrari in one race? Or they could just be pulling back altogether, in which case I'm wrong.

Williams,

Sorry for misunderstanding you.

[Max Torque]

They are probably quitting because they will be forced out in 2003 (or 2006) anyway. Withdrawing a couple of years earlier is a way to save loads of cash.

I'm dying to see who will be their replacement.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Nah, if the ban is in 2006, tobacco money will increase until that point. Marlboro will start sponsoring entire championships

[Max Torque]

For what reason?
That is totally irrational.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Because you're on your way out, might as well use up all options left in one massive blowout

think liquidation sale

[Williams]

Ross, I don't think a big corporation like Marlboro are ever truly "on their way out". They just start putting their money into other core endeavours, by buying into other businesses. This is probably the beginning of such a move on Marlboro's part. It's not like they are going blow their brains out just because a few little governments pass some legislation. Now is the time for them to start casting around for alternatives, and that is what is happening.

[Max Torque]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
Because you're on your way out, might as well use up all options left in one massive blowout

think liquidation sale

You are way off with your argument here Ross.

As a sponsor forsees that the field in which they invest huge sums for advertising will soon vanish, the logical move is to go out quitely, even a bit sooner, simply because that field will not be bringing them exposure any more (in this case, not of their own choice, but because they are thrown out- but anyway, regardless of the reason, the fact remains).

Liquidation sale refers to selling, not investing. Totally oposite and quite irrelevant.

Anyway, I am not an expert on this field. Maybe we should wait and hear RedFever's opinion on this, since he happens to work in the field if I am not mistaken.[p][Edited by Max Torque on 02-10-2001]

[Ross Stonefeld]

RedFever works in the tobacco industry?

If someone said "you cant advertise on the college bulletin board after the first of March" id ****ing plaster that thing until I was no longer able to

[Max Torque]

RedFever works in marketing I think.

If you could plaster the thing for free, and it was because you needed the temporary exposure, then yes.

But if it was a very costly investment, with no more obvious gains (Marlboro aren't gonna get any more exposure by being there for just another year!), then I bet you would pull out a bit sooner too, like Marlboro did.

[Ross Stonefeld]

That would make sense to me if you were pulling out voluntarily. But if you were being shut out and didnt want to, id think you'd go apeshit on marketing

I heard BAT's agreement with BAR is that they can dictate the non-tobacco sponsors so it doesnt take away from the Lucky Strike stickers. Then again they are 0wned by BAT and Ferrari/Marlboro is just a partnership

[Jecko]

They might as well pull out early and focur their sponsorship somewhere else.

Many teams in F1 are already starting to drop the tobacco sponsors and use other means.

[AD]

If that news is true, then it's good for F1. Now all we have to get rid of is West, BAT, Benson & Hedges, and Mild Seven.
When all these go, F1's popularity will grow at an even faster rate, as tobacco companies literally hang around like a bad smell.
And F1 teams budgets will not be any smaller. Coca Cola, Microsoft, Oracle, Nike, etc. could easily pay as much as Marlboro, etc. Look at Williams, they have no tobacco sponsorship, yet they probably have the 4th biggest budget behind Ferrari, McLaren, and BAR.

[Option1]

It will be interesting to see if it is just Marlboro pulling out or if in fact it's the entire Philip Morris group. Remember Philip Morris make not only numerous cigarette brands, of which Marlboro AND Benson and Hedges are but two, but also own Kraft and Miller Brewing. So if Philip Morris do pull out of F1 then Jordan's sponsorship also goes buh bye.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I thought B&H was part of the gallagher group

[Option1]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
I thought B&H was part of the gallagher group

Not according to Philip Morris' products website.

[George Bailey]

When tobacco ads were banned on US TV the last night they were legal was back to back cig adds. They didn't go out quietly and early, they went down in flames

[Ali_G]

I agree with George there. They will all go out with a bang.

Maybe the tracks surface will be coloured in Malrboro Colours.;)

Niall

[George Bailey]

They've already got a head start with the curbs.

[Ali_G]

Originally posted by George Bailey
They've already got a head start with the curbs.

Tey coud paint the pit wall etc though.

Niall

[RJL]

I, for one, would love to see Formula One move away from it's pathetic/ disgusting addiction to Big Tobacco money. As we all know, the tobacco companies advertise in racing because its the only way they can get their "product" on our TVs.

I know F1 needs lots of money but I think its time to find it in other industries, such as the ones mentioned in the above posts. The Big Tobacco Companies are the true embodyment of evil on our planet. They are making huge profits selling cancer to people. Millions of people worldwide die of lung cancer every year, but for some reason it remains legal to sell cigarettes to the public. Since, unlike other companies, their clientel is perpetually dying off, the tobacco companies aim their advertising at our children in the hopes of getting them addicted; all in the name of money.

If there is a Hell in the Afterlife, these are the people who will populate it. They add all sorts of deadly, carcinogenic substances to their "product" in the name of "flavouring". The truth is they add these toxins because they too are addictive and make it harder for those who are hooked to quit & save their own lives. I know these things because I was hooked, and it took me years to shake the "habit". And even when I was chewing the gum or on the patch, I was still going nuts missing all the other sick ingredients. Someone I knew died of lung cancer last year, within months of being diagnosed. He was 46.

Formula One should break its association with Tobacco. I know it won't be easy; but it is the right thing to do.

RJL

[Ross Stonefeld]

Dude, you arent forced to but cigarettes. If you're addicted its because you cant comprehend that natural air is the only thing you should be inhaling

[Ali_G]

For instance there was no reduction in the amount of eople taking up smoking here in Ireland after they banned the advertising of cigs on TV. It just stayed the same. In fact some people now view it as misterious and therefore good as it can't be advertised on TV.

Niall

[Williams]

Ross, you right, but the problem is the concerted effort by the tobacco companies to get kids hooked. Kids are not in a position to make decisions about whether to smoke. Ask any smoker how he or she was when they started smoking, and there's a good chance they will give an age less than the age of majority.

[RJL]

Exactly right, and if you ask that same person why they still smoke years later, they'll say its because they can't quit, not because they like it or they don't know it's bad for them. The sh*t is pure evil, and F1 doesn't need the association.

RJL

[RJL]

Ross

If you really think that someone can choose not to smoke, then you don't really understand the nature of addiction. Also everyone here should stop for a minute and think about where all those millions Schu & the rest of 'em get paid come from. That's right folks Michael Schumacker is getting rich from the sale of cancer. It's sick and F1 doesn't need it.

I used to rationalize the use of Tobacco Money in motorsports too. Then one day I realized that you really can't do that. Our brave heroes do not need to be making their (justifiably) enormous salaries from the sale of cancer.

RJL

[NYR2119935]

I love the tabacco companies. They sponsor racing and they help kill of the people who are stupid enough to use em. What more could we ask for?

[JayWay]

Originally posted by NYR2119935
I love the tabacco companies. They sponsor racing and they help kill of the people who are stupid enough to use em. What more could we ask for?

Theres alot of people on this board who smoke and who know people who smoke. You want them dead? Goddamn you need to keep your mouth shut.

[NYR2119935]

I have a lot of good friends and family who smoke. I thank them for supporting auto racing with tobacco sales, however they are killing themselves and that is their stupidity.

[JayWay]

No you said you love the companies for killing them

[NYR2119935]

'It's always funny untill someone gets hurt...And then it's just hilarious!'

'It's always funny untill someone gets hurt...And then it's just hilarious!'

'It's always funny untill someone gets hurt...And then it's just hilarious!'

'It's always funny untill someone gets hurt...And then it's just hilarious!'

[NYR2119935]

Originally posted by JayWay
No you said you love the companies for killing them

that was sarcasm

'It's always funny untill someone gets hurt...And then it's just hilarious!'

and your quote - do u practice what u quote?

[JayWay]

don't back peddel to hard you might hurt yourself.

[NYR2119935]

don't back peddel to hard you might hurt yourself.

[Dudley]

I don't want them dead. But equally I'm not going to pity them for a lifestyle choice.

You are not forced to smoke and very few people now alive will have started before it was known to be deadly. Your choice, just as it's your choice to drive a car quick down a narrow road.

Both are dangerous, both bring money (cigs, petrol) to companies that support my favourite sport.

[RJL]

You can drive a car fast your whole life and not get hurt if you're smart. It's not speed that's dangerous so much as bad driving.

Cigarettes, on the other hand, ruin the health of the vast majority who get addicted. And the point, as discussed above is that Tobacco Companies target young people who don't know any better, By the time they do, they are addicted. This does not sound like much of a "lifestyle choice" to me. People who think this is a choice need to look up the definition of "addiction" in there dictionary.

RJL

[Williams]

Dudley if your 13 or 14 year old kid ever made such a "lifestyle choice", you'd be happy about it, and be glad that his or her addiction is supporting your sport ? After all, he or she made a "choice", right ?

And of course 14 year-olds are fully competent to make such a choice, right ?

[Dudley]

Starting to smoke is a lifestyle choice. Forgive me for expecting parental responsibility for children younger than the 16 you need to be to buy cigarettes in the UK.

I fail to see how they target children, I fail to see how anyone above 5 can't read a half packet sized health warning.

[RJL]

I think we're getting a little off topic here. What i was getting at is that F1 can find way more positive sources of funding than Tobacco Companies. Any agreement on that?

As for NYR2119935...I think somebody must have dropped him on his head when he was a baby.

[Dudley]

RJL - agreeed on that point.