WhiteBlue wrote:ESPImperium wrote: And rumour has it that Ferrari has been referred to the EU over they're branding on their engine cover again. The European Commission wants the prancing horse on the yellow background icon, or force Ferrari to carry one third of their car with a Smoking Kills warning will be enforced, or the EU will stop Ferrari racing....
Can you resent the other teams that are clean of tobacco sponsoring that they try to level the playing field? $100m every year just by carrying sponsorship that has been outlawed in principle long ago is a considerable advantage in this day and age where sponsorship from other sources has dried up considerably. It also does not help that the commercial boss of F1 is indicted of bribery in the EU. So I can understand the other team principals when they try to stop Ferrari's little games there.
Thats pretty much the reason, it wont only affect Ferrari, Ducatti Moto GP team and there is a few other sporting teams as well i think. Its also to force the tobacco firms into placing a percentage sum of money into paying for cancer treatments and such to each country. In other words cripple the tobacco firms, as even though that in the UK they only make 23p average profit on their product, there are countries that tobacco is not levied to the same level.
Hail22 wrote:Well if that's the case what is next?
Red Bull is banned in a few countries due to the synthetically engineered amino acid "taurine" as its a known stimulant that can lead to heart palpitations / failure as well as erratic behavior in teens / people with ADD / ADHD so really whats next?
If you ban everything sooner or later sports could be faced with a handful of sponsor groups which may include:
Holistic medicine companies, general medicines, government organizations, computer companies, personal health / care products?
Red Bull is indeed banned in certain other countries, however until 2011 Red Bull was banned in France, however they worked with the French government and have now got a product in place there that is free of taurine i believe.
When can Tobacco companies work with a government to take away the cancer risk?
However, it is rumor in the retail trade in the UK that in the next 18 months all energy drinks that contain caffeine and man made stimulants will be age restricted to 16 and over. Lucozade will be free of this as its just sugary glucose filled water, and is actually classed as a health drink and not a energy drink by the UK government.
