Energy Drinks - modern day Tobacco sponsors??

[Shizuka]

The fact you can't even walk into a shop in the UK any more and see fags on sale says it all really.

Our government in Hungary will open tobacco shops next summer, and only those will be legally able to sell them!
So your situation is a bit 'better'.

[Nuppiz]

The fact you can't even walk into a shop in the UK any more and see fags on sale says it all really. All behind screens or in cabinets hidden away. I'm all for protecting minors from stuff like this but the legislation that is increasingly being championed by governments around the world is akin to segregation and persecution of people who choose to make a lifestyle choice. I don't smoke, I personally think it's a daft thing to do, but I also don't like how smokers are forced to be marginalised in mainstream society.

Spot on. I'm not a smoker and hate it when I have to breathe in some tobacco smoke when some idiot decides to do it in a place where people are passing by, but I fail to see how hiding the brands inside some cabinet has helped to reduce smoking. The only noticeable effect I've found is that the cashier queues have gotten longer because the smokers have to spend more time asking for their daily fix...

On the other hand, I agree with dinizintheoven that some people are just plain ridiculous when they moan about not having any money and then going to the store to buy a 5€ pack of cigarettes to smoke all of it during the same day. I can eat for two-three days with that money, and it's certainly not just noodles or pasta!

[Klon]

Well, perhaps we ought to stop children from smoking by having smokers wear a yellow star. That could work and then we'd be done with this whole issue.

[Ataxia]

If more smokers learned to roll, it would be a lot cheaper...

Pack of 20 fags in the UK...about £7.
Pack of 12.5g Amber Leaf, including filters and papers...about £3.50. You can easily get 20+ cigarettes out of that.

Then people could spend that free £3.50 on food and things. I've just solved the economy.

The fact you can't even walk into a shop in the UK any more and see fags on sale says it all really.

Our government in Hungary will open tobacco shops next summer, and only those will be legally able to sell them!
So your situation is a bit 'better'.

I will not buy this tobacconist, it is scratched.

[Faustus]

I will not buy this tobacconist, it is scratched.

My hovercraft is full of eels.

[dinizintheoven]

BaconLettuceNinja's nipples explode with delight!

[Shizuka]

You great poof.

[nome66]

BIG BUMP
recently i've seen a bunch of e-cigarette commercials here on US television. through a technicality loophole, they are aloud to show these commercials on TV.
could this slowly transition to racing car sponsorship?
thoughts?

[DemocalypseNow]

BIG BUMP
recently i've seen a bunch of e-cigarette commercials here on US television. through a technicality loophole, they are aloud to show these commercials on TV.
could this slowly transition to racing car sponsorship?
thoughts?

The comapnies that distribue these (i.e. the ones we astually see) are bandits, they don't have the kind of money to invest in F1. Unless of course they've solved the gaping hole in branding and marketing these products in the US - right now, over here, they're pretty much a generic product.

[Cynon]

BIG BUMP
recently i've seen a bunch of e-cigarette commercials here on US television. through a technicality loophole, they are aloud to show these commercials on TV.
could this slowly transition to racing car sponsorship?
thoughts?

You're a tick behind;

[Ferrarist]

Could Marlboro start an E-Cigarette brand, in order to circumvent the tobacco ban?

[razta]

Could Marlboro start an E-Cigarette brand, in order to circumvent the tobacco ban?

probably

[mario]

Could Marlboro start an E-Cigarette brand, in order to circumvent the tobacco ban?

probably

Assuming that the regulations within the EU would permit such a move, that is. Asides from that, Marlboro did effectively find a way around the ban on tobacco advertising through finding a loophole in the way that sponsors are defined - I believe that, technically, Marlboro acts as an intermediate company for other companies that wish to sponsor Ferrari, allowing them to class themselves as an external consultant rather than a sponsor.

[Cynon]

Could Marlboro start an E-Cigarette brand, in order to circumvent the tobacco ban?

probably

I wonder if that would only work if the Marlboro brand became e-cigarettes...

[Ed24]

There have been some e-cigarette advertisements during the English Premier League, so I think there is a good chance it could get around EU laws.

[Faustus]

Could Marlboro start an E-Cigarette brand, in order to circumvent the tobacco ban?

probably

Wouldn't it be sort of the same thing as Marlboro's clothing line, Marlboro Classics?

[nome66]

Here we go:

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2013/02/ ... Long-Beach
the first cigarette related sponsor to an indycar since the TV Tobacco ban and Penske's not-so-subtle liveries in 2007. i know there is no tobacco in e-cigs, but for all purposes, they are cigarettes. I get the idea of offering a healthier alternative on TV ads, though. i will give them that.

Thoughts?

[Aerospeed]

Shouldn't that be on the IndyCar thread?

Even still, if e-cigs are the way of the future (I personally do not know how they work, and now I'm expecting a long-winded response explaining this), and if they have a lot of cash, I expect lots of teams signing up in the near future. Hopefully they will have good looking logos. (The Blu one isn't too bad, IMO)

[nome66]

wanted to make note of it in this thread because i felt it was relevant.

ALSO: E-cigs have a small battery, heating element, atomizer(like a spray nozzle), and a tiny liquid reservoir with water and also flavoring.
simple to the point where i don't turn into Britannica

[Wallio]

Here we go:

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2013/02/ ... Long-Beach
the first cigarette related sponsor to an indycar since the TV Tobacco ban and Penske's not-so-subtle liveries in 2007. i know there is no tobacco in e-cigs, but for all purposes, they are cigarettes. I get the idea of offering a healthier alternative on TV ads, though. i will give them that.

Thoughts?

I love it, too bad they signed with RLL. I do think these are the wave of the future. If for no other reason then the fact that ecigs are WAY more addicting than regular ones. Most offices allow them, and their cheaper and "better" for you than a cowboy killer. My buddy used to smoke 1 1/2 packs a day. On the ecig he's now the equivlent of 4 packs (he bought a bloody 8-hour battery for his!). Main reason I won't switch from "analog". I'd be even more of a chimney.

But its always good to have new money in the sport, no matter where from (with few exceptions).

[andrew2209]

Here we go:

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2013/02/ ... Long-Beach
the first cigarette related sponsor to an indycar since the TV Tobacco ban and Penske's not-so-subtle liveries in 2007. i know there is no tobacco in e-cigs, but for all purposes, they are cigarettes. I get the idea of offering a healthier alternative on TV ads, though. i will give them that.

Thoughts?

Nice livery.

[Ferrim]

I've just spent € 1.30 in financing Sebastian Vettel's fourth championship.

Remember me of it when I bitterly complain about Red Bull domination (I know I will).

[nome66]

i drank redbull once in my life. i now drink Monster Zero on the regular.

[razta]

i drank redbull once in my life. i now drink Monster Zero on the regular.

Mercedes FTW!! yay!

[dinizintheoven]

I prefer Power Horse. Pity Arrows isn't around any more.

And when I say "prefer" I mean "every energy drink has this ultimately revolting taste underlying irrespective of how they try to disguise it", which I assume to be taurine, so ultimately it matters little. Power Horse, though, I can get at B&M Bargains, plus there was a running joke with Gore and their entourage about ten years ago that never really went away. And Battery isn't available here either.

[Jonny83]

Not sure if e-cigs will ever replace their more traditional predecessors in terms of motor racing sponsorship.

Firstly, it's true what they say that cig advertising wouldn't make anyone get the urge to start smoking (funnily enough I never started until AFTER the advertising ban), but have a big sway over what brands existing smokers would buy - even to this day I'm subconsciously more likely to go for a JPS, Camel or Marlboro at the counter rather than a more obscure brand that I can't visualise being plastered all over a racing car.

But switching brands with cigarettes is fairly straightforward - you've finished your pack, go to buy another one, take your pick, simple.

While e-cigs do work out cheaper over time, there are relatively large start-up costs involved in buying up starter kits and so on, so simply changing e-cig brands on a whim is less feasible, unless you're prepared to pay £30-40 to switch and not really getting your money's worth.

And secondly, while I was just a kid (or not born!) for all but the last few years of tobacco advertising, it was my understanding growing up that advertising was already heavily restricted, being banned from TV, magazines, billboards etc. over time, meaning that sports sponsorship was one of the few areas left available to the tobacco companies so they poured all their money into this, and sports like football or athletics didn't really fit the image so they went for what were percieved, rightly or wrongly less athletic sports like snooker & motor racing (of course motor racing is more physically demanding than the man on the street realises, but still). If e-cigs are legal to advertise across the board, you won't really get the advertising money being heavily concentrated into our sport.

The second reason would also apply to energy drinks I guess, plus the fact that Red Bull appears to be the dominant brand anyway. Motor racing may suit Red Bull perfectly, but so long as Dietrich is also allowed to advertise on telly, on billboards, magazines etc. you won't get the absolute concentration that we saw for instance in the Marlboro/Camel wars of the end of 80s, where from memory pretty much half of the (massive) field had one or the other had the stickers of one or the other as well as the official McLaren and Lotus sponsorship, as well as extensive F3000/F3 sponsorship too (Red Bull don't sponsor anything beyond helmets in GP2 it seems these days)

[nome66]

start up costs are definitely a big factor, jonny
every other week or so, i go and buy an e-hookah(yes, hookah flavored e-cig but no nicotine) and those run me 12 dollars a pop for about 1 pack of cigarettes worth of usage. that's a lot compared to the $7.50 per pack newports.

just imagine that as an F1 or IndyCar livery!

[Wallio]

start up costs are definitely a big factor, jonny
every other week or so, i go and buy an e-hookah(yes, hookah flavored e-cig but no nicotine) and those run me 12 dollars a pop for about 1 pack of cigarettes worth of usage. that's a lot compared to the $7.50 per pack newports.

just imagine that as an F1 or IndyCar livery!

Major thread resurrection. I was at the Indycar race at Pocono on Sunday, and everything old is new again. There was a stand giving away ecig starter kits! Just like back in the day of free Marlboros and Winstons, you walked in, a scantily clad female asked you how many packs a day you smoked, and then regular or menthol? And Presto! An ecig, charger, and enough refills equal to 1 1/2 CARTONS of ciggies. But I went on their website and the stuff they gave away sells for $55 plus shipping, so perhaps this could be a return to the glory days of ciggy ads?

[Nessafox]

start up costs are definitely a big factor, jonny
every other week or so, i go and buy an e-hookah(yes, hookah flavored e-cig but no nicotine) and those run me 12 dollars a pop for about 1 pack of cigarettes worth of usage. that's a lot compared to the $7.50 per pack newports.

just imagine that as an F1 or IndyCar livery!

Major thread resurrection. I was at the Indycar race at Pocono on Sunday, and everything old is new again. There was a stand giving away ecig starter kits! Just like back in the day of free Marlboros and Winstons, you walked in, a scantily clad female asked you how many packs a day you smoked, and then regular or menthol? And Presto! An ecig, charger, and enough refills equal to 1 1/2 CARTONS of ciggies. I had bought a Blu a while back, and its terrible, doesn't look, taste, or feel anything like smoking, but worst off the battery lasts 2-3 puffs on a good day. I just wrote it off as $40 wasted. However, this giveaway was for a "Mistic" which so far has been better in everyway, which is bad, as I'm vaping much more than I smoked! But I went on their website and the stuff they gave away sells for $55 plus shipping, so perhaps this could be a return to the glory days of ciggy ads?

It really sounds as if you are getting paid to say that. Cut the publicocrap and make your point

[Wallio]

The point is, its like when tobacco companies sponsored racing. I know many posters on this board are too young to remember (not saying you personally are) but you used to be able to get multiple CARTONS of cigs from Marlboro, Winston, Kool, etc. at races over here. Tins of chew too. Now it seems ecigs are going the same way. So I wonder if we will see Blu, Mistic, Zoom, GreenSmoke, etc, all sponsor cars soon.

[Fetzie]

Uh...KH-7 makes cleaning products...

So does Procter and Gamble, doesn't stop them making that orange mayonnaise called "Sunny Delight" (seriously, that stuff is orange flavouring, water and corn syrup emulsified with sunflower oil).