Tobacco Documents Online

TNE WALL STREET JOURNAL MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 1995 Ban on Tobacco Ads Might Stall Auto Racing Jimmy Spencer, the driver of ahe Smuk- (n' Joe's Racing Team, leans confidently on his yellow and blue car, "the Camel- powered car," as the announcers at the Watkins Glen. N.Y.. International Race- By Wall Street Journal reporters Roger 7hurow, Richard Thanpson und Kevin Coldman. way say. The logo "Smokin loe's" jumps out in neon green; the blue hood sports an image of a large yellow camel wearing a black•and-white checkered racing scarf. Both driver and camel are here for the latest stop on the Nascar Winston Cup Series. But despite appearances, Mr. Spencer, who has made close to $2 million racing on the Wington circuit, Insists he is no ciga' -°!le.,+r~6mAn fnr R.J. Revnolds, maker of ~.. __._.. Camels and Winstons. "R.J. Reynolds has never come to Jimmy Spencer and said 'We need to try and sell cigarettes,' " says Mr. Spencer, who himself doesn't smoke. President Clinton sees it differently. tie sees the logos and names at sporting events as contributing to the increase in smoking by children and adolescents. So last week he proposed, among other meas- ures, prohibiting brand-name sponsorship of sporting or entertainment events by tobacco companies. As one might expect, lhat move is considered Ihe pits here in the pits. fb In America, sports and tobacco have CD been rolled together for decades. In the ~ gilded days of baseball, back in the '3ns ~ and 'aUs, snme big stars hawked cigarette w brands, Virginia Slims, made by Philip ~ Morris, was the main sponsor contributing ~ to ttre brxnn in women's tennis. Tudlly, tobacco brand names slwrnsur sporting e'l• ranging from boK•ling lu hydrnpLui AOVERTIi1NA ing, from the Vantage golf tournament to Copenhagen Skoal Pro Rodeo. (Allhough professional baseball, basketball and foot- ball leagues are not sponsored by tobacco companies, some of the stadiums and arenas that host games earn revenue from tobacco billboarda, though they must now be out of camera vl'a.) Nowhere, thuugh, is the relationship as close as in auto racing, where tobacco companies began sinking money after they stopped advertising on televisfon, and where they are the largest single adver- tiser. According to marketing induslry figures, R.J. Reynokls, a unit of ItJR Nabisco Iloldings, has spent wme $200 million on the National Association for Jtu2w i+uT n ..... •••tv w^ o~.~rn~, Naerf~t, since .~. nr~ 1971, with much of It coming In the past decade. And Philip Morris, it is estimated, has spent at least that much on Nascar and the indy car circuit. 8oth companies spon• sor leams and certain races, as well as prize-money awards. "The visibility the sponsors receive at the racing event is enormous," says Alan Friedman, editor of Team Marketing Re- port, a monthly newlelter in Chicago. If tobacco brands are banned from sponsur- ship, he says, it "will be a very seriotrs setback for the auto-racing industry." While motor racing has become a hot ticket fur advertising dollars, Mr. Fried man says it's "doubt(ul" that the variuus racing associations would be able to flnd other induslrirs capable of making up the difference if tobacco revenue is losl. Nrrr nnc, nrosl advertisers inlelested in b.rrking spnris events already are duinl; so, so Irrtill IlnldS are Iitnilell. Also, .rulu Tobacco and Sports Sportinq events sponsored by some tobacco companies: • RJ. REYNOtJ,:  Winston Cup (Nascar)  Winston Racinq (Nascar) • Winston West (Nascar)  Winston Selec110 Boous Fund (Nascar) •  Winston Drag (NHRA) Vanlage Championship (PGA)  Smokin' Joe's Racing Team (Camel)' tHNtJr MWtINS  Martboro auto raskq • Cambrid4e 8owiin0  Virginia Slims Legends Tour (lennis stars and musical artists, such as Gladys Knight) U.S. TO•ACCO  Prolessional Rodeo Cowboys evenls • Copenhapen Skoal Pro Rodeo 'Includes Nascar, NHRA. Molorcycle racxq and Mydroplanes Norr Nascar=Nalanal Associslan lot Stock Car Auto Racinq. NNRA=Nalional Ho1 Rod Association. PGA=Protessional Gotlns' AssociaUon Soarce compuwes racing draws fans from particularly dr'sir able demographics far lobaccu adver tisers. tt.J. Reynolds, for instancr, now pumps alHrul $15 million annually intu the shrrt, not including prunNNiun;ll ilems like hals and apparel. I'hcrc is an old mntor.INq'1 saying: Your best sponsor is the one you already have," says Adam Saal, a spokesman (uF the indy Car circuit. "Getting or losin tYg sponsor can be the difference between racing on Sunday ur sitting on the side- lines." Although tobacco brand names would, under the proposed regulations, have to be removed, the parent cumpany could place its name on the event. So, gone would be the Winston Drag or the Marlboro 500 and in their places would be the R.J. Reynolds Drag and Philip Morris 5U0. "We would have to look very hard at whether it makes any sense for us to mount such a sponsorship; " says a spokesman fur R.J. Reynolds. "After att, how many peo- ple know that we make Winston? Bul we haven't come to any conclusions yet." What, say, would become of the Marl- taro 500 withoW Marlboro ? • T;;g!'_ _ mwi nueslion." SnVS Watl Czarnecki, executive vice president nf Penske Corp., which owns several race- ways. Including the Michigan Interna- lional Speedway that stages the Marlboro 500. "The event may still go on, but the costs of putting it on don't go down. Ticket prices would go up. That's the first Ihing that comes to mind." Another thing coming to the minds of racing fans this past weekend is the specter of government interference. Al Watkins Glen, where Sunday's Win- slun Cup race was sponsored by Bud- weiser, Thomas Bagalio, a rryearold fan from Allentown, Pa., asks, "What's going to t>L next? Beer advertising:' Cuffee''" lie has just traded a pack of Marlboros tor two packs of Camels al one of the "package exchange Iwsls" (you get two It..l. Reynolds brand packs fnr one cumpet- /'Irusr 711rn lo RN, ( idunu1 1 ~ C', ~on''rl)

so" ADVERTt51NG Tobacco Ad Ban At Sports Events May Stall Racing Continued FYone Page 31 itors') set up around the track. "I under- stand the point that we don't want under- age smokers." Mr. Bagalio says. But, he adds. "there's a lot more pressing prob- lems in this country than cigarette aaver- tising." Minutes before yesterday's race. the 41 drivers took a lap around the track. standing on the backs of pickup trucks and waving American flags. The action was announced as a lap of honor and gratitude for RJ. Reynolds and a lap of protest against President Clinton. The fans cheered wildly. The tobacco companies have gone into overdrive at the racetrack to rebut Presi- dent Clinton and the Food and Drug Ad- ministration. Winston Cup marketing offi- AUU- I -, cials at Watkins Glen were eagerly distrib- uting results from a survey done by Sim- mons Market Reasearch Bureau that found that 97% of those attending Nascar events are 18 years old or older. The raceway grandstands. says Chris Powell. a Winston Cup spokesman. are "usually so heavily weighted with adults. If we are attempting to target youths through this sponsorship, then we re doing a very poor job."