Alibi marketing_Marlboro and F1

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Formula One (F1) has been advertising leading tobacco companies for decades, up until 2005, when it became prohibited by the European Union Tobacco Advertising Directive. Tobacco ads on F1 cars ceased to exist, except in one case: Marlboro, by Philip Morris. They used subliminal techniques of Alibi Marketing, which is a way to go around restrictions in advertising.

In this particular case it was illegal to advertise tobacco brands, but it was not illegal to use things and images which are associated with brands. That made it easy to cheat, since Marlboro and Ferrari share the colour red. Redness is something difficult to legislate against. All they needed to do was to use some kind of design for potential buyers to associate with their brand. See ''Alibi marketing – tobacco,'' here (uploaded by the UK CTAS, 13.3.2014).


Picture 1. Bruce Grant-Braham, John Britton. Marlboro ‘barcodes’ on both the Ferrari race car and the driver's clothing in early 2010 (LAT Photographic).

Thus, Ferrari uses a barcode design without a brand name and consumers associate it with Marlboro. Indeed, since Philip Morris has been a leading sponsor of the Ferrari F1 team since 1972 (see Picture 2), when they first presented the car coming from a cigarette package, they are still associated with Ferrari.


Picture 2. Bruce Grant-Braham, John Britton. Marlboro branded BRM F1 car emerging from a mock-up of a giant Marlboro cigarette pack in 1972 (LAT Photographic).

Secondly they had been using barcode designs before (see Picture 3). All Ferrari did was drop the brand name and let the consumers' subconsciousness and their active imagination continue to make the connection.


Picture 3. The evolution of the Marlboro barcode. 

In early 2010, when challenged by a series of media reports that the barcode design was in reality a Marlboro logo, Ferrari responded that "the so called barcode is an integral part of the livery of the car and of all images coordinated by the Scuderia, as can be seen from the fact it is modified every year, and, occasionally even during the season. Furthermore, if it was a case of advertising branding, Philip Morris would have to own a legal copyright on it’ (Press release: Scuderia Ferrari and Philip Morris International Sponsorship, 2010, here.)

Cigarette marketers have two core goals: developing a brand identity and entrenching ideas and feelings related to their products. (NCI Monograph 19. The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, 2008:68. here.) The Marlboro brand has developed its identity using the ideas of winning and masculinity, both identifiable in Ferrari F1 cars.

To conclude, I want to underline that the barcode designs occupy exactly the same position on cars, drivers' clothing and other livery as was specified for the conventional Marlboro logo in past years. In fact, the barcode designs are performing ‘alibi’ marketing. This mode of advertising, and indeed Philip Morris' continued sponsorship of F1 in the EU, appears to be in direct contravention of the 2005 Tobacco Advertising Directive. (Grant-Braham B, Britton J Motor racing, tobacco company sponsorship, barcodes and alibi marketing Tobacco Control Published Online First: 05 August 2011. doi: 10.1136/tc.2011.043448.)
Bojan Toprek

Comments

  1. Diana V. AlmeidaApr 30, 2017, 12:59:00 PM

    Thanks for your analysis, Bojan. Indeed big corporations have come up with many ingenious ways to ignore legislation and make business go on as usual, using surreptitious marketing strategies. Sport events, with its million viewers across national and geographic borders, are a great opportunity to spread these types of messages, of course.

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  2. Students CI_FLULMay 21, 2017, 7:09:00 PM

    Alibi marketing is certainly one of the best forms of marketing in the world, along guerilla marketing, because it influences consumers subconscious state of mind and automatically atracts him to the product. In Croatia, there were also ads for tobacco products but it never showed actual connection with it. Since the main tobacco factory in Croatia is located in the city called Rovinj, all of the commercials just showed one sentence which said: "Greetings from Rovinj!" and everyone knew what was it about. But later, new European Union laws banned also these types of commercials so now tobacco mustn't be advertised at all. The same goes for strong drinks. Only beer and cider ads are allowed.
    Mislav Bartoš

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