Why is Ferrari still allowed to have a tobacco sponsorship?

[Jolle]

Nobody else decided to keep paying while being unable to display their brands on the car, somehow Philip Morris decided to keep going.
You'd have to question what kind of special relationship Philip Morris and Ferrari have for them to make this decision.

Consider that Ferrari is now run by a PM man...

Philip Morris is doing all Ferrari's marketing. The companies on the car don't have a contract with Ferrari but with Philip Morris. They have a contract where, for around 200 mln a year, PM has all the rights on the car and all the marketing around that. It's a very good deal for Ferrari.
Philip Morris has a long history in F1 with deals that go further then other tobacco brands. They invested in McLaren with project 4 (the M from MP4 used to mean Marlboro) and switched to Ferrari when they had the ambitious Schumacher/Brawn project there. They are more like RedBull that you would think in first.

I think this mission wino is in the first place not to focus on Philip Morris, but to gather interest for partnerships with the Ferrari brand and sell more space on the car.

[ScottB]

It's ridiculous.

Yes, the actual Marlboro logo isn't on the car anymore, however, would Philip Morris have continued throwing fortunes at Ferrari since that was banned if they hadn't determined it was good business to do so?

We had years of the barcode version of the Marlboro logo, then finally that was deemed to be too close, then we got that awkward Scuderia Ferrari logo, that in a total coincidence was red triangle shapes on white, and now here we are, with a random 'MW' shape, that is also, by pure coincidence, vaguely reminiscent of the Marlboro logo.

If tobacco advertising is illegal, then no tobacco company should be allowed to sponsor an F1 team, as said, clearly it's a form of advertising that still works, whether there is a logo on the car or not, therefore, it's still tobacco advertising.

[Ringleheim]

As has been stated up-stream, sponsorship of an F1 team is a complex affair involving all sorts of things that have nothing to do with what gets slapped on the side of the car. Obviously P.M. has decided there are advantages to be enjoyed by continuing its relationship with Ferrari, or else they would have been gone a long time ago.

With regard to the images on the Ferrari itself: that's not tobacco advertising. That's an abstract image that is suggestive of the Marlboro brand without really replicating the Marlboro brand. Obviously the powers that be have determined it to be acceptable.

Get over it.

[SectorOne]

Philip Morris is doing all Ferrari's marketing. The companies on the car don't have a contract with Ferrari but with Philip Morris. They have a contract where, for around 200 mln a year, PM has all the rights on the car and all the marketing around that. It's a very good deal for Ferrari.
Philip Morris has a long history in F1 with deals that go further then other tobacco brands. They invested in McLaren with project 4 (the M from MP4 used to mean Marlboro) and switched to Ferrari when they had the ambitious Schumacher/Brawn project there. They are more like RedBull that you would think in first.

I think this mission wino is in the first place not to focus on Philip Morris, but to gather interest for partnerships with the Ferrari brand and sell more space on the car.

A great and informative post that i learned some things from so thank you.
I had no idea Ferrari had that type of deal with PM, very interesting way of doing it i have to say.

[adrianjordan]

It's ridiculous.

Yes, the actual Marlboro logo isn't on the car anymore, however, would Philip Morris have continued throwing fortunes at Ferrari since that was banned if they hadn't determined it was good business to do so?

That's simple. They can sell the space for more than they pay Ferrari for said space. Therefore it's profitable to do so.