Is a health risk for the youth merely an F1 marketing stunt?

Lirhain Hondolero

Formula One, or most commonly known in its abbreviation (F1) is the highest form of international open-wheel and single-seater motor racing sport. For most people who hear it, they will imagine fast cars, racing circuits, and drivers who look like they could model. They would not be wrong, but the industry is deeper than that. 

There are a few basics to know about the sport:

• It comprises 11 teams, which have 2 drivers each as well as reserve drivers,
• A year is called a season,
• Each race is called a Grand Prix, and
• There are two championships: the World Drivers’ Championship (WDC) and the World Constructors’ Championship (WCC). 

Across their 76 championship seasons since 1950, one thing that most people, even fans, are not aware of is their long-standing connection with the tobacco industry. 

The Tobacco industry, or rather its mechanization, began in the late 19th to mid 20th century due to the invention of the automated cigarette-rolling machine. Years later, companies have emerged and now seek to market specifically to young, new customers. 

Formula 1’s connection to the industry started in 1968, widely referred to as the “tobacco-fueled era” until the 1990s because many teams were sponsored by tobacco companies. Scuderia Ferrari is the most remembered team that is sponsored by a tobacco company, all because of its former livery, or branding, with the largest logo being Marlboro, a product by Philip Morris International (PMI). This era ended when, in 2006, a ban was officially imposed by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) or in English, the International Automobile Federation, in response to the tightening health regulations and by a directive from the European Union. 

However, in recent seasons of the sport, companies began to wrap around the loopholes and continue to use the sport as their marketing strategy. It is seen since the earlier seasons that a sponsor’s logo can be seen on the car and race suits of the drivers, which poses a great risk for the growing audiences. 

A prominent example of this is that McLaren Mastercard’s cars have Vuse and Velo branding, both electronic nicotine products of the British American Tobacco (BAT), a tobacco company that sponsors them, on the cars’ sides, front wing, and halo, which would not be noticed immediately because of its minimalistic appearance.  Although oftentimes, if the host country in a race has strict regulations about tobacco marketing, it would be covered. 

Another loophole the industry managed to exploit is that they could still use the partnership to market their company at races, like PMI’s partnership with Ferrari. 

According to Nielsen research in 2021, 34% of fans are aged 16-24, similar to recent observations that the majority of followers of F1 and the teams’ social media accounts are under 25, especially on TikTok. 

The sport’s target audience for their plans is South East Asia and South Africa, as reported by exposetobacco.org in their issue regarding this topic. 

The target market of the tobacco industry is just as the same as formerly; the majority of the fans are men aged 30 to 40. Due to the effects of tobacco on the body, the industry must soon find a market to grow. 

With the recent launches of F1 Kids, in which different broadcasts have shown the logos of tobacco and nicotine products on McLaren’s cars, and the partnership of F1 with LEGO, such unregulated branding and advertising can expose itself to the growing young audience to tobacco products such as cigarettes, electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes, and nicotine products like pouches and such. 

This is a concern not just worldwide but also in the Philippines. As one of the countries in Southeast Asia, the nation’s youth is vulnerable due to the marketing that sports bring with their sponsors and the lack of stricter regulations and legislation about tobacco and its advertising across the region. 

This is a risk because a survey by YouGov back in 2023 reveals that the Asia-Pacific is the 3rd region where F1 is popular with 29%. 

As the sport grows in popularity and innovation, the people involved in F1, the sport, and its handlers will be under scrutiny because of such ethical bounds, especially for its growing audience of not just adults, but adolescents and kids, with the dangers of tobacco usage still not being taken seriously even in the pinnacle of mechanical engineering. 

What the young fans are learning from the tracks

As F1 attracts more from the youth population globally, the conversation now extends far beyond racing and entertainment. The excitement of racing, technological innovation, and global competition should not overshadow the influence that sponsors can have on impressionable audiences. 

While tobacco and nicotine companies may no longer advertise as openly as they once did, their presence remains visible in ways that keep their brands in public view. 

If the next generation can instantly recognize a nicotine brand because of a racing team, then what is being promoted is no longer just the sport — but a habit that public health advocates have spent decades trying to prevent.