Ferrari will remove any visual traces of the controversial project ‘Mission Winnow’ of the tobacco giant Philip Morris during the first Grand Prix of the Formula 1 season, on March 17 in Melbourne (Australia), announced a spokesman for Philip Morris International .
“‘Mission Winnow’ will continue to be a sponsor of the Ferrari team in 2019,” he told AFP, although the brand will not appear on the team’s cars and uniforms in Australia, following an investigation by local authorities to Find out if he was breaking the law on tobacco advertising.
“Our (brand) activations will be different in Australia. We will announce the details before the race, “he added.
The mention ‘Mission Winnow’ had already been removed from the official team name in the latest version of the list of participants for the season that is about to begin.
Many countries have banned cigarette and tobacco advertising since the mid-2000s, which is also opposed by the International Automobile Federation (FIA). But Philip Morris, who had not stopped sponsoring Ferrari, was able to appear again in the cars and the uniforms of the team last October through its scientific subsidiary ‘Mission Winnow’.
At a time when F1 teams are increasingly suffering to meet their budget needs, tobacco sponsorship is very attractive.
In February British American Tobacco and McLaren announced their partnership through the ‘A Better Tomorrow’ project, “a global platform to accelerate the transformation program” of BAT.
“We will confirm (whether or not the ‘A Better Tomorrow’ logo is used in Australia) in due time,” a spokeswoman for the British team told AFP on Wednesday. “Not before Grand Prix weekend,” added BAT. AFP