Comments on: Ferrari denies illegal subliminal tobacco branding on F10 car

By: Deep

Deep — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:59:46 +0000

I think the biggest issue here is not that the ‘logo’ represents Marlboro it is that Ferrari are denying so.

By: vxr

vxr — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:59:12 +0000

Philip Morris is not a charity. He doesn’t hand Ferrari, Ducati, or whoever, hundreds of millions of dollars for no return on that investment.

If Philip Morris was a charity, he might, first of all, want to put something into every countries health budget.

By: MtRacer

MtRacer — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:58:00 +0000

Regardless of whether the barcode is subliminal or not, there is absolutely nothing subliminal about the official team name, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.
Just the fact that Marlboro gets spoken/written in any official mention of Ferrari coming from the FIA, FOM, and Ferrari (not to mention other media sources), keeps the name of the tobacco company fresh in people’s minds. It may not entice anyone to start smoking, but it might be enough for a smoker to switch brands instead of quitting.

Luckily, the public’s general awareness about tobacco brands is on the decline.

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:57:07 +0000

I havent read all the responses above so if this has been explained before i apologise!

Ferrari run their team branding slightly differently to the other teams, they sell the whole car to one company (currently that is Marlboro) who then sub contract the space on the car out to other sponsors and providers of technical help and equipment to the team.

Santander have this year purchased a large proportion of the space that marlboro sell on and if I am correct they will take over the contract from them for selling the space from the end of this season when their association with Mclaren ends and Marlboros contract with Ferrari runs out.

By: caio

caio — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:55:28 +0000

I first bought a Marlboro pack due to it’s logo on the side of Senna’s car. I was 14 years old. I smoked for 11 years and quit smoking 3 months ago because of my first son. I disagree that a logo in the side of a car doesn’t change anything. I have always been a fan of Senna, and because of that, I started smoking. A pack of Marlboro, to me, it’s his walking McLaren. About things that helped me get over tobacco, one of them is not to see it associated with the sport I am a huge fan of and the other is the law that forbids smoking in public closed places. About the barcode, I didn’t realise til now it had this association with Marlboro. I agree it being subliminal because the effects it may cause are not all concious, and I do believe, as a former smoker, they exist. Seeing the barcode is actually very much the same as being a former smoker, you never really get over it. You’ll always remember, even if it doesn’t have Marlboro written on it.

By: Oman

Oman — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:54:24 +0000

To answer the question on the difference between Alcohol and Cigerette advertisement.

You can drink responsibly. Eg having a few drinks are not a health risk of any significance. There is evidence that some alcohols such as red wine can provide health advantages.
But you cannot smoke responsibly. Whether you have one cigarette per day or 50 its not good for you. There is no safe nunmber to have in a day.
Also if i over do it with the drink i might vomit and have a sore head. But even one cigarette incoveniences everyone around the smoker as the smoke blows over everyone else and can damage their health.

Yes there are social issues with alcohol, but not all people who drink cause problems. Where as all smokers cause problems, weather its long term health issues clogging up hospitals or just passive smoking of innocent children.

Ferrai and Philip Morris are being sneaky, the Bar code to me has never ment anything else but Marlboro.
If there are so innocent, why does Ducati have bar codes too? Do ferrari sponser Ducati too?

By: Titanio

Titanio — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:52:37 +0000

thats interesting!

By: karkad

karkad — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:51:05 +0000

I’m not sure that I would agree that everyone associates the Barcode with Marlboro. I remember only a few years ago a Barcode being on the BAR Honda and it didn’t represent Marlboro. Several people I knew who didn’t know anything about F1 thought that the BAR team was owned by some sort of BARcode company and they advertised the codes on the car. It didn’t quite explain the Barcode on the Ferrari but they didn’t seem to care or notice.

By: Romeo

Romeo — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:50:22 +0000

I don’t unsterstand why this has come up now, when its been obvious for years.

By: Sinic

Sinic — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:49:22 +0000

Me thinks that with such a long quiet wait between races, F1 journos are just wanting any kind of article!