Ferrari presented its new car for Formula 1 called SF21 a few days ago, specifically on March 10 of this year and it was very controversial to see the Mission Winnow logo in green on the car's fin.
And it that Ferrari already had this logo in part of 2018 and during 2019 although in black and white respectively, and on this occasion the green color makes it stand out too much and doesn´t go with the color palette of the car, that is why that many people, including me, didn´t like it, but we must mention that Mission Winnow achieved its goal since everyone is talking about this logo and therefore Philip Morris, owner of Mission Winnow; and to understand why Mission Winnow is very important for Ferrari, you have to see the historical facts with this team.
Philip Morris is one of the most important tobacco companies in the world, and it also owns Marlboro, one of the most recognized tobacco brands, well, Marlboro reached Formula 1 in 1972 when it was not yet internationally recognized, but it didn´t arrive here by coincidence, since in the 70's the restrictions on tobacco advertisements began, and the companies realized that these restrictions didn´t apply to festivals and sporting events including motorsports, so they couldn´t launch advertisements on television, but the Formula 1 is a sporting event and is broadcast on television, so that's how Philip Morris and many other tobacco companies began to sponsor Formula 1 teams to appear on television.
For 1997 Marlboro became the main sponsor of Ferrari, so much so that from this year until 2010 the team was called "Scudería Ferrari Marlboro".
But the problem of Marlboro and its sponsorship came down from 2006 when Formula 1 prohibited tobacco sponsorships in Formula 1 teams. Regardless of this, Philip Morris continued to inject money for the Ferrari team without its logo being seen in the single-seater, but why?
Well, Ferrari always used the color red in its cars as a tradition since it was the designated color for Italian national teams, but in 1997 and thanks to the sponsorship of Marlboro, Ferrari continued to use the color red in its cars, but now the color was brighter to match the Marlboro logo, and this color was used from 1997 to 2017 with a few exceptions such as 2007, 2013 and 2014.
It´s worth mentioning again that in 2007 and due to said restriction the logo of tobacco brands could no longer be used, so Marlboro devised subliminal advertising by implementing a barcode on the F2007, although in the same year and on some occasions they blatantly replaced the barcode for the word "Marlboro" arguing that it was the name of the team.
For 2008 and until 2010 the Ferrari cars continued to use a barcode as subliminal advertising, but this time at high speeds, the barcode was reminiscent of the Marlboro logo. Subsequently, this barcode was banned in 2010 and the team changed its name from Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro to just Scuderia Ferrari.
After this, it´s until 2017 and 2018 when we find subliminal advertising for Marlboro again in the Ferrari SF70H and SF71H cars, since the Marlboro logo has a triangular entrance, and in many Marlboro ads they used this triangle in their campaigns, among which we can find the controversial campaign aimed at young people in 2014 called "Be Marlboro". In the case of these 2 years, the number of the pilots was located inside a pentagonal shape that, together with the color of the single-seater, reminds us of the Marlboro logo.
In addition, in this same campaign, the Ferrari team appeared in some advertisements since it´s forbidden for tobacco brands to appear in teams but not the teams appear in tobacco advertisements.
On the other hand, from 2019 is where Mission Winnow enters as the main sponsor of the team. It´s worth mentioning again that Mission Winnow is part of Philip Morris and is an anti-smoking campaign focused on a smoke-free future supporting science and innovation, the problem is that the Mission Winnow logo has triangular entries and seems to be a continuation and remember the one with the Marlboro logo, this is how in 2020 the brand was absent from all races due to the controversy caused by its relationship with Phillip Morris and Marlboro, and for this 2021 Mission Winnow is once again the main sponsor of Ferrari although they mentioned that its appearance will depend on the regulations of each country.
It´s worth mentioning that also from 2019 McLaren had the sponsorship of A Better Tomorrow, a campaign by British American Tobacco, which is the fourth biggest tobacco company in the world and owner of Lucky Strike and Pall Mall and this one does continue to show off its brand. during 2020 regardless of the pressures, although it gave space to some of its commercial partners such as 7 eleven, Durfry, Family Mart, Lyft, Vuse and Vype in places where tobacco ads were restricted.
Given all of this, I can only conclude that while the Mission Winnow logo is not a tobacco ad as such, both the shape of the logo and the manner of displaying subliminal Marlboro ads on Ferrari cars over the years only makes us think that it´s just another strategy to get smokers to consume Marlboros, because was it really necessary for the Mission Winnow logo to have triangular inlets like the logo of the most famous Phillip Morris cigar brand?
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