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The president of the FIA, Jean Todt has backed calls for Formula 1 to ban all sponsorship by tobacco manufacturers.
The calls by the WHO (World Health Organisation) come after two teams have announced partnerships with tobacco producers. Ferrari carry the branding of Mission Winnow (a Phillip Morris brand) and McLaren recently announced a partnership with British American Tobacco (BAT) under the guise of "A Better Tomorrow).
Due to the tight regulations in Australia, both teams have removed their corresponding logo's from their cars for the grand prix this weekend in Melbourne.
“WHO is urging governments to enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship at sporting events, including when hosting or receiving broadcasts of Formula 1 and Moto GP events,” it said in a statement.
“WHO also urges all sporting bodies, including Formula 1 and Moto GP, to adopt strong tobacco free policies that ensure their events are smoke-free and their activities and participants, including race teams, are not sponsored by tobacco companies.”
The WHO specifically named PMI and BAT’s F1 sponsorship campaigns.
“British American Tobacco (BAT) recently announced ‘a new global partnership’ with the Formula 1 team McLaren using the logo ‘a better tomorrow’. In making this announcement, BAT indicated that the multi-year partnership will provide a global platform to drive greater resonance of certain products, including glo, a heated tobacco product. This statement suggests that the company’s intent is to promote tobacco use.
“In the case of Philip Morris International (PMI), the company has created a new logo (Mission Winnow) to be carried by Ferrari on cars, and Ducati on motorbikes, that previously carried branding for the cigarette brand Marlboro. PMI has also registered the Mission Winnow logo as a trademark, including for use with respect to tobacco products. Ducati carried this branding at a recent Moto GP.”
They also called for governments to use the "strongest possible ways" to prevent this kind of sponsorship in any sport.
Todt said: “Since many years tobacco advertising is forbidden. So I mean I completely support WHO position. There’s little more we can say on that.
“But we are aligned very closely with the WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus the director general of the WHO, we are aligned with their position.”
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G. Zhou
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Mansell
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But he still took the phillip morris money when he was at ferrari so you can't talk Jean,