Go Canada

F1 ditches Canada over tobacco ban

[Jon_King]

I knew our friends to the north had a spine.
[cnn.com...]

[jatar_k]

unfortunate though, there is nothing quite like Montreal on Grand Prix weekend.

[fashezee]

I will be mourning for quite awhile.....

[moltar]

I used to be a huge F1 fan! I came to Canada 5 years ago, and was always "going" there to see, but never had a chance.

And now it's even harder :(

[shelleycat]

But I love the Canadian Grand prix! Specially how it's right next to, yet very different from, Monaco. I knew things like this were on the cards but it still makes me sad. I'm not overly thrilled by tobacco advertising and in general I support various country's bans (we have one here in NZ too), but when it comes to F1, the only sport I watch, I find it a little hard to be objective.

[shelleycat]

Hmm, a bit more digging shows that Bernie Ecclestone hasn't axed the Canadian Grand prix yet, and in fact hasn't set up the 2004 season at all.
[f1.racing-live.com...]

In my opinion it's likely they will, since the Canadian side isn't prepared to back down on their stance and the F1 teams have contracts with their sponsors they have to honour. But it isn't finalised yet.

[mack]

There are a lot of changes happening in F1 just now. Even some plans to scrap the british grand prix.

To much politics, not enough motor racing.

Mack.

[Sinner_G]

I don't get it, tobacco advertising is removed from the cars in several European GPs (France, UK). Why can't they do the same in Canada?

I like the way the cars then sport some slogans instead of the tobacco logos/names. Lucky Strike has be known to turn to Look Alike, Benson&Hedges to Be On Edge,...

[lgn]

You think they could find plenty of advertisers to replace the tobacco advertisers.

The Canadian Government gave them 7 years to find alternate sponsors for the Grand Prix.

Montreal Motor sports fans are being penalize because of the gross incompetence of the Grand Prix organizers, not because of the Canadian Government policy to restrict the advertising of a dangerous substance.

[glengara]

And just as the racing was getting more interesting.....

[steve128]

Government gone crazy? the nanny state is here to stay,
sure smokings bad, but only sometimes. The right honorable mr blair was only too keen to take 1 million of mr F1's money, and then give them the stay of execution for a few years.
Maybe Green-Peace etc don't like the Mobil ads , Goodyear etc.
Wow, (mr blair) F1 bans rubber ads and oil, cos they are not politically correct products, them crappy diesel fumes from 10 year old buses and waggons hurt more than a 20 ciggies a day, ban em?
Maybe Mr Johnnie Walker will be next with his vile and corrupt killing liquor. Back-hand the government, ok its not bad liquor for now, but,,,,,

[lgn]

The problem with smoking is second hand smoke, which is just as deadly.

When I drink, Im not destroying somebody elses liver.

If they made a cigarette that only killed the smoker, and not innocent bystanders, I would be
all for it.

I think this discussion could quickly degenerate into a rant.

[Sinner_G]

When I drink, Im not destroying somebody elses liver.

As long as you don't drive after drinking, in which case you would not only destroy a liver, but a life (or more).

[thewebboy]

As long as you don't drive after drinking, in which case you would not only destroy a liver, but a life (or more).

Not to mention your insurance rates.

[jbinbpt]

This is not unlike the changes going on with racing in the US with what is currently the Nascar Winston Cup Series. The settlement that the government made with the tobacco companies, forces the sponsorship of the top series in the US to be placed into a bidding war.
The “winner” is Nextel. Big, strong communications company that now will have its name and products in front of millions of stock car fans. Open market I guess, with the spoils going to the highest bidder.
The “losers” in this deal are the hundreds of local tracks the Winston helped with money to run their weekly racing series. Many local tracks are marginal operations, which really needed the long-term support that Winston provided.
Additionally the other losers are the other teams that also have sponsorships with communications companies. The “Agreement” between Nextel and NASCAR prohibits any other communications company from becoming a major sponsor for any of the teams. Teams that had such sponsorship can keep it, but no new sponsorships.

Our government in action.

[Sinner_G]

Am I the only one who has the feeling that in every government, there is a guy whose special task it is to discover people having fun? Then he goes like 'hey, people having fun, we can't have that, let's make a legislation to avoid it!'

[Visit Thailand]

I am curious. While smoking is becoming a world wide issue, even here in Thailand you can no longer smoke in air con restaurants, I wonder what the impact is from F1 advertising.

Yes they get a lot of worldwide TV coverage but I for one could not name the advertisers for Minardi, Renault or even Mercerdes - Could you ? without researching it or thinking too much about it?

I feel for any country that loses the GP as it does bring in millions in revenue, am glad to see Bahrain has it next year and would love Thailand to have one.

[Sinner_G]

Minardi - No tobacco sponsor
Renault - Mild Seven
Mercedes - West

But then I watch every GP...

I guess there is an impact, as if there wasn't tobacco companies wouldn't sponsor the teams. But if they didn't they would find something else to sponsor.

[jbinbpt]

In Nascar you have a wide range of companies sponsoring cars. Beer companies(Bud and Miller), drug companies (Viagra), communication companies (AOL and ATT), hardware stores (Loews and Home Depot), chemical companies (Dupont) to name a few.
Free and open market. Leave the government out of it.
If we were to follow the government’s logic, I suppose that Mark Martin’s #6 Team (Viagra sponsorship) is responsible for all of the spam e-mail that I get and they will be the next target.
BTW There was a car that was sponsored by Hormel (SPAM).

Go Mark .. Starting third today at Watkins Glen (old F1 track). Been following him since the ASA days.

[vincevincevince]

I don't see the need for the 3rd party advertising - e.g. Renault is by far rich enough to only adverise Renault on the cars, same goes for most of the other firms.

What kind of an image does it give of Renault when you see the Renault team having to display Mild Seven adverts? I'm certainly discouraged from buying a car from a firm which is so cash strapped!

Nobody wants to buy a car from a firm which may not be around in a few years time to buy spare parts etc..

[Sinner_G]

Nobody wants to buy a car from a firm which may not be around in a few years time to buy spare parts etc..

If you really think that and believe a company who can not maintain a F1 team without sponsors will not be around in a few years, I guess you don't have a car. I don't know any company in any industry that can just give a 3-digit mio US$ a year away.

[jbinbpt]

FYI the money issue....
The #8 Budweiser car just signed new deal. Approx 20 million dollers per year for the next three years.

There are 43 active Nascar Winston Cup teams and at least 10 part time teams.

Big bucks involved

[richardb]

.:cough:.

Nobody wants to buy a car from a firm which may not be around in a few years time to buy spare parts etc..

Aren't Ferrari part of the oh so in debt company Fiat, recently bailed out to the tune of £50M by the Italian gov?

Not that I’ve ever had Ferrari but I did have a Fiat Uno Turbo once, very fun little run around.

Rich