Other teams - notably Renault, McLaren and Honda - farewelled their tobacco-fuelled dollars a couple of years ago, as anti-advertising laws swept Europe and the world.
Ferrari, however, opted to renew its association with Philip Morris, and until recently has been displaying Marlboro logos where possible, including in places like Monaco and China.
But at the recent Bahrain grand prix, where local laws theoretically would have allowed Ferrari to run tobacco branding, the two F2008 cars instead displayed the so-called 'barcode' livery - reminiscent of the Marlboro signage but using white markings instead of letters and logos.
According to Autoweek magazine, Ferrari has confirmed that Marlboro logos "will no longer appear on its cars".
Reportedly, Philip Morris, owned by Altria Group, decided that the 'barcode' livery should be permanent.
The first Marlboro branded cars were the BRM and Iso Marlboro-Fords in 1972, before the long and famous associations with McLaren, and subsequently Ferrari, began.
Marlboro's current Ferrari contract, estimated to be worth around $1bn in total to the Italian team, expires in 2011. A blanket ban on all tobacco sponsorship in F1 will come into effect in 2009. (GMM)
Reader Comments
Wed Apr 16 2008 6:58 AM
Strada Auto Store says
It was only a question of time.
Wed Apr 16 2008 7:17 AM
Gus2 says
It will come into AFFECT? How does something come into AFFECT?
Wed Apr 16 2008 7:20 AM
Renton says
Well I guess I'll quit smoking now. I needed those constant reminders.
Wed Apr 16 2008 7:44 AM
chris says
clearly this isn't like reminding people to go to mickey d's for the latest concoction. its about preventing new customers, and letting the current ones kill themselves. it will take a while but in 30 or 40 years, you can expect tobacco to be a museum exhibit. thats a stretch, but still.
I'm confused by this reference to the "barcode" ad. What was the old ad, and what has it been changed to? I'm sure P-M didnt just say "yeah smoking is bad, you can stop putting our stickers on your cars, but we'll continue paying you 1 billion"....
Wed Apr 16 2008 8:03 AM
admin says
The way it works is that P-M buys ad space on the whole car and then sub-lets it out to Shell etc. They just have so much money that they can afford to advertise only in the markets where the advertising is legal. The rest of the time they replace it with barcodes. It's never made much sense to us either.
Wed Apr 16 2008 8:39 AM
chris says
ah ok, no that makes a little more sense. I've worked in construction and its the same thing as a "general contractor". the general does nothing. they supervise. that way the owner has one company to talk to. makes things much easier.
so PM is making money off sub letting the ads anyways, and then they just masque their own ad when its illegal. it works,.. because we're talking about it, and im sure anyone who knows their F1 would see that barcode and STILL associate it with Marl.
Wed Apr 16 2008 9:23 AM
Tiaan Nel says
Wonder if they will ever ban alcohol ads? Not as if cigarettes make your crash your car, beat your kids and act like and idiot? Doesn’t make sense!!!
Wed Apr 16 2008 9:31 AM
Gus says
Well, if you're sitting next to me drinking a beer, it doesn't affect me.
But if you light up I have to inhale that cr*p.
It's all about forcing other people to deal with something you're doing.
There are far too many lwas protecting us from ourselves, while the ones protecting us from others are never enforced...
Wed Apr 16 2008 10:44 AM
chris says
hey gus; canada has a public smoking ban... ehh?????
Wed Apr 16 2008 3:41 PM
Gus says
So does California, most places, thank God...
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