Liability for Tobacco (& other)advertizing

[ShiftingGears]

Two thumbs up to that post, harvick.

[Erki]

I wonder what are the people working in the tobacco industry like. They are after all, indirectly killing other people. Or making it more likely to put it more PC.

[wmcot]

It was F1-Live because as far as I know French media cannot display anything tobacco related. A French newspaper was penalized a couple of years ago for showing a tobacco branded F1 car.

Yes, it was F1-Live, but just a couple of days ago in their "Pic of the Day" they had one of the Ferraris sitting in the garage at Bahrain with full Marlboro branding in giant wallpaper size???

[Gannex]

I wonder what are the people working in the tobacco industry like. They are after all, indirectly killing other people. Or making it more likely to put it more PC.

I worked for a law firm whose biggest client was Philip Morris. At the time I was an ambitious trial lawyer, and if you wanted to be involved in big trials, they didn't get much bigger than the tobacco litigation of the late 80's.

There were some lawyers at our firm who would not work on Philip Morris matters on grounds of conscience. They abhorred smoking, in some cases had had relatives die of lung cancer, and generally thought the tobacco industry to be evil. I never shared their view, obviously, but I respected it.

Those I did not respect were the anti-tobacco zealots. They were our enemy in every respect. They not only sought to defeat us in court, take away our livelihoods and destroy our industry, they also tried to paint us personally as inhuman, greedy, uncaring murderers, and themselves as selfless, moral superiors. To this day, the anti-smoking activists make me want to puke.

[ioan]

I wonder what are the people working in the tobacco industry like. They are after all, indirectly killing other people. Or making it more likely to put it more PC.

Cars do kill people too, directly or through carbon emissions.
Mobile phones may cause cancer too.
Computers are bad for your eyesight.
Food contains plenty of unhealthy substances.
Coca Cola is not good for your health either, along with most of the refreshing drinks.
Should I go on?

[Mihai]

Cars do kill people too, directly or through carbon emissions.
Mobile phones may cause cancer too.
Computers are bad for your eyesight.
Food contains plenty of unhealthy substances.
Coca Cola is not good for your health either, along with most of the refreshing drinks.
Should I go on?

People and NGOs are campaigning against traffic hazards and excessive emissions from cars, there is a concern in the mobile phone industry to produce phones that are less dangerous to the brain, responsible people avoid junk food an unhealthy drinks and so on. There are government regulations in all these aspects too. Do you have a point in this? Why would it be any different about smoking and tobacco manufacturers?

I read a lot of selfish and mindless posts on the tobacco advertising-related topics on this forum. Like "I am a motor racing fan and I didn't start smoking because of tobacco liveries in the sport, so tobacco advertising in F1 isn't wrong". As much as I still have consideration for famous tobacco liveries in the past (JPS Lotus, Camel Lotus, Marlboro McLaren, Gitanes Ligier, etc), tobacco advertising is history. What you see in Bahrain and other countries where tobacco advertising is not yet banned are just ghosts from the past. So stop whining and enjoy Formula 1 !

[ioan]

So stop whining and enjoy Formula 1 !

I hope it wasn't directed at me.

Correction; the Ferraris, I've now checked and seen, did in fact have their Marlboro logos clearly displayed at Bahrain. The photo you saw, wmcot, must have been one which had been doctored to comply with the ban, in some places, against showing tobacco advertising even when the advertising in question is simply part of the picture.

Brilliant.

So now we can all live physically healthy lives but in a society that is willing to censor pictures in the belief that it is protecting us.

Is it just me, or is that exactly sort of thing our governments complain that North Korea does?

[wmcot]

So stop whining and enjoy Formula 1 !

I'm sure we'll stop whining when the season starts. I think we need something to keep our minds going and our wits sharp (some being much sharper than others) until the actual racing starts.

On a different topic, F1 has become "Big Mac Friendly" since JPM left!

[wmcot]

Is it just me, or is that exactly sort of thing our governments complain that North Korea does?

F1 is developing nuclear weapons, too???