Ferrari F1 barcode a ‘smokescreen for cigarette adverts’

BTW, this whole situation could be easily remedied if Ferrari simply registered the barcode design as their own!. That way, it cannot be argued that it belongs to Marlboro.

 

Whine?
Never!
I'd be too busy throwing a tantrum like a two year old

 

The barcode does represent Marlboro. They use it in other racing series as well that are nothing to do with Ferrari. Unless Ferrari and others spontaneously had exactly the same idea, and it's a coincidence they both get sponsored by Marlboro.

Doesn't matter if Marlboro has it registered. The only salient point is whether that barcode is there as an association with Marlboro, or not. If it is not a Marlboro association, then removing it will be no problem.

The only relevant argument is whether the barcode signifies Marlboro. It replaced the Marlboro logo on multiple teams livery that Marlboro sponsors.

The law defines advertising as "advertising means any form of commercial communication with the aim or direct or indirect effect of promoting a tobacco product"

Then if the logo has nothing to do with Marlboro, and since it was never part of Ferraris livery ever before, then removing it should be a total non-issue. As would be changing the team name to remove the word "Marlboro".

 

But then why should they remove it SRTmike? If it has nothing to do with Marlboro and is a non-issue, then why would a court force them to remove the barcode? It is simply a graphical element.

If the Ferrari logo itself conjured up the image of cigarettes due to their long-running relationship with Marlboro, then would you have them change or remove the logo from their car until people forgot about this relationship?

 

Very well said.

Smoke up boys, we have a team to support.

 

What I intended to say was....I don't see how the ban would apply in this case if the bar code on the Ferraris is not precisely the Marlboro bar code. If it isn't, then those opposed to it could say that any item which depicts, implies, calls to mind, imagines, hints at, or has anything in common with tobacco is subject to the ban.

As far as the EU is concerned, those proto-bureaucrats in Brussels have more important things to do right now than worry about what's on an F1 car. Greece.

 

What I intended to say was....I don't see how the ban would apply in this case if the bar code on the Ferraris is not precisely the Marlboro bar code. If it isn't, then those opposed to it could say that any item which depicts, implies, calls to mind, imagines, hints at, or has anything in common with tobacco is subject to the ban.

As far as the EU is concerned, those proto-bureaucrats in Brussels have more important things to do right now than worry about what's on an F1 car. Greece.

 

Because

1) There are many people who obviously see this as cigarette advertising

2) It was never, ever, ever an element of the livery, until it replaced the Marlboro logo

Therefore, since many people seem to feel it is cigarette advertising and since it's nothing historical or important to Ferrari, then simply removing it would be appropriate and avoid the whole situation.

Luda doth protest too much. He is really so much in love with the idea that Ferrari had to put in place of the Marlboro logo, that happens to resemble Marlboro packaging, that happens to be the exact same design other Marlboro sponsored teams used to replace the Marlboro logo?

Or perhaps he knows that it's a sneaky circumvention of the rules, and doesn't want to risk losing the Marlboro sponsorship.

 

The bureaucrats themselves will be safe as usual while it is the pro-union governments that could topple and/or suffer massive election losses. Greece is the answer for the prayers of the anti-union folks who predicted from the get-go that EU would amount to a massive transfer of wealth from the orderly and developed North to the incompetent and corrupt South.

 

Anyone really believe that Ferrari would use so much valuable commercial real estate as simple decor?

 

Of course not. But just because Marlboro's paying for it doesn't becessarily make it advertising. Like the 2008 Hondas....WTF was that, anyway?

 

True dat.

However it is hard to say what effect (if any) that barcode has as far as advertising goes since it is so distanced from the original message.

The money Marlboro pays to Ferrari might be used entirely to get the naming rights in "Scuderia Marlboro Ferrari".

At any rate, it seems like an ungodly pile of hyperbole to get all upset over a barcode that most folks have no idea what it stands for.

 

If you mean the "Earth Dream" themed cars, the motif was to express Honda's environmental sensibility. Which in the end was a form of advertising for the brand.

If it looks like a duck, quack likes a duck and waddles like a duck, brother it is a duck

I don't know why so many otherwise reasonable people are in a state of denial.
I understand even less why anyone would think that official legal institutions could possibly share such fantasies.

 

Its the law.
It doesn't have to be reasonable.

 

IIRC, when the tobacco ban was implemented, McLaren put "East" on the car instead of West.

Now, there is no tobacco company called East, so one could argue that it was legit. But it was clear in intent.

I disagree that most don't know what the barcode means. I think most fans know exactly what it means. And it's 'weird' enough that I bet it stands out a lot to people, and I bet a lot of folks who don't know what it means end up looking it up.

It's excellent PR for Marlboro. If advertising on the car was legal, anyway

 

Wasn't the "East" logo run just once as a statement?
Am I right that we first saw the bar code on Ferraris during races where local ordinances banned Tobacco ads while Marlboro logos ran in the other. more liberal, venues?

 

But the law should be precise. If that isn't a Marlboro or other tobacco barcode, it complies. (Except maybe in EU-BizarroWorld).

 

What would those be?

 

By the logic of some, if the car smokes, it's violating the tobacco advertising ban......

 

It isn't. Law is full of such terms as "likeness" which is not precise by its very nature.

 

The EU for one.

 

Lots of things should be, but ain't.
Let me know how arguing "Well what the law should say officer is..." works for you.

 

So the bar code was a direct substitution for the Marlboro logo. Case closed.