Obviously Philip Morris never stopped sponsorship of Ferrari and the red car's livery has reflected this more, or less, at various times and now they have their Mission Winnow logos front and centre on the Ferrari. This year we have BAT returning to the sport as well through Mclaren.
Now when you look at the respective companies' websites, they are full of vague sounding promises to improve tobacco products etc etc.
In a time when the NHS in England is encouraging smokers to move to vaping products as a way of reducing the harm of taking in nicotine, is there actually an argument for promoting these companies and their efforts to diversify?
I am assuming here that PMI and BAT are both spending heavily on products such as vaping and e-cigarettes as a way of retaining market share as habits change.
More to the point, is tobacco sponsorship really that much worse than alcohol or energy drinks full of chemicals?
I'm a paramedic and went to a 12 year old who had given themselves a life threatening cardiac arrhythmia through drinking too much of an energy drink the other day... The risks are very real from these drinks. I blame the parents thiugh for allowing the child to drink them.
Personally I feel that anyone should be allowed to sponsor sports and that society should take more responsibility for their own actions, rather than blaming sponsorship etc.