The F1 McLaren team removed the logo of a project of the British American Tobacco (BAT) tobacco company from their cars and their drivers’ overalls during the Australian Grand Prix, where the legislation is very restrictive on tobacco advertising .
“It is BAT who made the decision not to use that logo this weekend,” a MacLaren spokesman told AFP.
The project in question announced by the brand is titled ‘A Better Tomorrow (A better future)’, and is “a global platform to accelerate the transformation process” of BAT, says the brand. It is based on “low risk products” such as the electronic cigarette and could be considered disguised tobacco advertising.
In the focus of criticism and the subject of several investigations in Australia, Ferrari had already made the decision the previous week not to include on the Melbourne circuit the logo of ‘Mission Winnow’, a subsidiary of the tobacco brand Philip Morris.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday asked the states and world sports federations to respect the ban on all tobacco advertising at sporting events.
The UN health agency recalls that “tobacco advertising and promotion” are “broad and cover activities that have the actual or potential effect of promoting tobacco products or the consumption of tobacco, directly or indirectly.”
“For several years, tobacco advertising has been banned (in F1), so we fully support the position of the WHO,” reacted the president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Jean Todt during a press conference. AFP