Scuderia Ferrari has officially announced that it has extended its partnership agreement with Philip Morris International. The information has been presented earlier today by the Maranello team’s official website. By virtue of this agreement, Scuderia Ferrari and Philip Morris international continue a collaboration of nearly five decades, yet the Italian side does not present specific details regarding the partnership.
Last year, Ferrari had renewed its lucrative partnership with tobacco company Philip Morris after signing another multi-year sponsorship deal. The tobacco company’s association with the team goes back over 40 years and Philip Morris’s brand Marlboro has been Ferrari’s title sponsor since 1997. Due to a ban on tobacco advertising the logo last appeared on the car at the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix, but Ferrari has maintained a red and white livery in recent years that reflects the colours of Marlboro’s cigarette branding.
Philip Morris is the only tobacco company remaining in Formula One and despite the ban on cigarette advertising, Philip Morris uses its association with Scuderia Ferrari in order to promote the Marlboro brand in certain territories.
Marlboro has a long history in F1 dating back to 1972 when it first sponsored BRM and Iso Marlboro. From 1974 to 1996 it had a series of sponsorship deals with McLaren before switching to a title deal with Ferrari. In 2010 the Ferrari deal came under scrutiny when Marlboro was accused of running subliminal advertising on the cars with a barcode design on the engine cover. Soon after a new Scuderia Ferrari logo appeared in its place and is still carried on the cars today.
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