Ferrari denies illegal publicity

The legality of the Scuderia and Philip Morris International partnership contract has been questioned in the last few weeks. According to what has been published the red color of the Ferrari cars and a part of the graphics that feature in the F10 would be a form of publicity of the Marlboro tobacco.

The team has released a statement denying those accusations and contradicting the two suppositions in which the reports have been based. Ferrari said that “Neither of these arguments have any scientific basis, as they rely on some alleged studies which have never been published in academic journals.”

One of the aspects of the F10 livery that has been questioned is the so called bar code, which would be reminiscent of the Marlboro logo. Ferrari answered the accusation saying that this detail is “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.” The Scuderia statement adds that in order to be considered advertising, “Philip Morris would have to own a legal copyright on it.”

To the other accusation, the one that starts from the premise that the base red color of the Ferrari car would be a more effective means of publicity than a cigarette advertisement, Ferrari just answers with historic facts. “It should be pointed out that red has been the recognised colour for Italian racing cars since the very beginning of motor sport, at the start of the twentieth century: if there is an immediate association to be made, it is with our company rather than with our partner.”

Since 2008, when tobacco advertisement was prohibited in some countries, Ferrari claims that the team’s cars haven’t featured logo or branding of Marlboro, “even in countries where local laws would still have permitted it”. The statement also says that nowadays the partnership between Ferrari and Philip Morris is “only exploited in certain initiatives, such as factory visits, meetings with the drivers, merchandising products, all carried out fully within the laws of the various countries where these activities take place.”