Research letter Tob Control: first published as 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055025 on 30 May 2019. Downloaded from Exposure to ‘smokescreen’ (8%) of them. Tobacco content consisted probably represent a very small proportion of seven intervals, where a no-smoking of the true total global exposure. marketing during the 2018 sign can be seen, one verbal mention As of February 2019, however, exposure Formula 1 Championship by a presenter of ‘Philip Morris’ and to tobacco marketing in F1 is no longer branding in 281 intervals. Only two limited to Philip Morris products, since the brands were identified: Marlboro, which McLaren team has now started to carry new was seen on screen 67 times in 21 inter- smokescreen marketing from British Amer- Introduction vals, mostly during prerace and postrace ican Tobacco, which has launched its ‘A Tobacco advertising and sponsorship in broadcast footages (typically histor- Better Tomorrow’ brand, also purporting to Formula 1 (F1) racing, which was banned ical footage showing branding on cars promote reduced risk products and bearing in by the 2005 EU Tobacco Adver- 4 1 or track signage, or in photographs of similarity to ‘’ branding. It tising Directive and internationally by the vehicles, drivers or team members) and appears that, despite prohibition, tobacco Federation Internationale de l'Automobile once on an audience member’s clothing advertising in Formula 1 racing broadcast is since 2006,2 continues to this day through 3 in a montage shown before an advertise- alive and well. the Philip Morris sponsorship of , ment break; and Mission Winnow, which thought to be worth $160 million (£124 appeared in five races broadcast after Alexander B Barker,‍ ‍ 1 4 1 ‍ ‍ 1 million) annually. the launch of the brand at the Japanese Magdalena Opazo Breton, Rachael L Murray, Bruce Grant-Braham,2 John Britton1 Although Marlboro advertising and Grand Prix in October 2018, occurring 1Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, UK Centre related barcode alibis disappeared from 668 times in 261 intervals on Ferrari Ferrari cars after 2010,5 during the 2018 for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, Clinical Sciences vehicles, clothing and equipment. championship, Philip Morris introduced Building, City Hospital, University of Nottingham, We estimated UK audience expo- Nottingham, , UK a new marketing campaign, Mission 10 2 sure using viewing data, UK midyear Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Poole, UK Winnow, with text and logo branding on 11 population estimates for 2017 and our Correspondence to Dr Alexander B Barker, Division Ferrari cars and uniforms. Philip Morris content analysis to estimate gross and per of Epidemiology and Public Health, UK Centre for states that Mission Winnow promotes capita impressions by age group, using Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, Clinical Sciences Building, their drive towards alternatives to tradi- City Hospital, University of Nottingham, Nottingham previously reported methods.9 Historical tional and does not advertise NG7 2RD, UK; alexander.​ ​barker@nottingham.​ ​ac.uk​ footage of Marlboro advertising in races tobacco products.6 However, the branding Contributors ABB, RLM and JB designed the study. delivered an estimated 37 million (95% is strongly reminiscent of the Marlboro ABB led coding of data and the data analysis and CI 34.14 to 41.51) gross impressions to Chevron logo,4 and the trademark details contributed to the drafting of the initial manuscript.

the UK population, including 1.2 million MOB supported the data analysis. BGB contributed copyright. for Mission Winnow include tobacco with interpreting the findings of the study and 7 (95% CI 0.92 to 1.48) to children, while products. We argue that Mission Winnow contributing to the manuscript. RLM and JB contributed Mission Winnow branding on Ferrari is ‘smokescreen’ marketing, covertly to the manuscript. 8 cars in the final five races of the season advertising tobacco products, with much Funding This work was supported by the Medical resulted in 438 million (95% CI 395 to in common with Philip Morris’s earlier Research Council (grant number MR/K023195/1) and 481) gross impressions being delivered to Marlboro barcode livery.5 the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, with the UK population, including 14 million core funding from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer We have quantified the tobacco content (95% CI 10.81 to 17.49) to children. Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ in the 2018 F1 Championship to assess and the Department of Health under the auspices of compliance with regulatory restraints the UK Clinical Research Collaboration. The funders and to estimate audience exposure to this Discussion had no role in the study design, data collection and smokescreen marketing. analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the This study demonstrates that, despite manuscript. the ban on tobacco advertising in Competing interests None declared. Methods F1,1 2 tobacco content and branding were We measured all tobacco contents shown shown in UK broadcast footage of the Patient consent for publication Not required. on screen during the UK F1 race broad- 2018 F1 Championship and delivered Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; casts (including both prerace and postrace millions of impressions of Philip Morris externally peer reviewed. footages) shown on Channel 4 for all 21 tobacco logos or trademarks (Marlboro

races during the 2018 championship, and Mission Winnow) to both children on September 28, 2021 by guest. Protected using 1 min interval coding.9 The coding and adults in the UK. method includes recording the pres- In addition to the individual F1 race ence or absence of audio-visual tobacco events, Channel 4 broadcast a range of content during every 1 minute interval qualifying race and pre-event and postevent Open access This is an open access article distributed of footage in four categories: ‘actual programmes. Since we limited the present in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution use’ (actual smoking shown on screen), analysis to the broadcast programmes 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon ‘implied use' (any inferred use without containing the actual race as specified this work for any purpose, provided the original work actual use being shown on screen), ‘para- by Channel 4 and did not code F1 races is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and phernalia’ (the presence onscreen of and related content broadcast in the UK indication of whether changes were made. See: https://​ tobacco or other related materials) and through Sky Sports F1, our analysis prob- creativecommons.org/​ ​licenses/by/​ ​4.0/.​ ‘brand appearance’ (the presence of clear ably underestimated the total numbers of © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use and unambiguous branding). Philip Morris tobacco impressions deliv- permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. ered through F1-related programming in Results the UK. Furthermore, since the F1 Cham- A total of 3396 intervals were coded, pionships are international events with To cite Barker AB, Opazo Breton M, Murray RL, and tobacco content occurred in 281 global audiences, the UK exposure figures et al. Tob Control Epub ahead of print: [please

Tob Control Month 2019 Vol 0 No 0 1 Research letter Tob Control: first published as 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055025 on 30 May 2019. Downloaded from include Day Month Year]. doi:10.1136/ FIA, 2002. Available: http://www.​autoracing1.com/​ ​ 8 Grand Prix 24/7. investigates mission tobaccocontrol-2019-055025 PDFs/2002/​ ​0418FIATobacco.pdf​ Winnow Smokescreen for Marlboro, 2019. Available: 3 Planet F1. Philip Morris extend Ferrari sponsorship Received 22 February 2019 https://www.grandprix247.​ ​com/2019/​ ​02/08/​ ​australia-​ deal, 2018. Available: https://www.​planetf1.com/​ ​news/​ Revised 16 April 2019 investigates-mission-​ ​winnow-smokescreen-​ ​for-​ marlboro-to-​ ​feature-on-​ ​-2018-​ ​car/ Accepted 26 April 2019 marlboro/ 4 Chapman M. Is tobacco giant pulling a fast one? F1 9 Barker AB, Opazo Breton M, Cranwell J, et al. Tob Control 2019;0:1–2. sponsor faces probe as government adviser claims clever design breaches advert ban. The Daily Mail, Population exposure to smoking and tobacco branding doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055025 2019. in the UK reality show ’Love Island’. Tob Control 5 Grant-Braham B, Britton J. Motor racing, tobacco 2018;27:709–11. References company sponsorship, barcodes and alibi marketing. 10 Digital I. Digital.I: a fresh perspective on TV viewing 1 European Commision. Double-blow to tobacco: Byrne Tob Control 2012;21:529–35. figures, 2018. Available: http://www.​digital-i.​ ​com welcomes political agreement on cigarettes advertising 6 Grand Prix 24/7. Di Giovanni: mission Winnow respect 11 Office for National Statistics. Population estimates for ban and smoking prevention measures, 2002. Australian laws, 2019. Available: https://www.​ the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Available: http://​europa.eu/​ ​rapid/press-​ ​release_IP-​ ​02-​ grandprix247.com/​ ​2019/02/​ ​09/di-​ ​giovanni-mission-​ ​ 1788_en.​ ​htm?locale=​ ​en winnow-respect-​ ​australian-laws/​ Ireland: mid 2017, 2018. Available: https://www.​ons.​ 2 Federation Internationale De L’Automobile. Tobacco 7 Justia Trademarks. Mission Winnow - Trademark gov.uk/​ ​peoplepo​ ​pulation​ ​andcommunity/​ ​populati​ ​onan​ sponsorship of - Achieving an effective ban Details, 2018. Available: https://​trademarks.justia.​ ​com/​ dmigration/​ ​populationestimates/bulletins/​ ​annualmi​ ​ by world-wide agreement in 2006: A statement by the 880/62/​ ​mission-88062772.​ ​html dyearpop​ ​ulatione​ ​stimates/mid2017​ copyright. http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ on September 28, 2021 by guest. Protected

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