Jorge Alday
A small child in a red Ferrari suit advertising Zyn at the Japanese Grand Prix in late March should be a wake-up call for anyone not yet attuned to the dangers of tobacco sponsorship in Formula 1. This follows the December 2025 announcement extending Philip Morris International (PMI)’s sponsorship of the Ferrari Formula One (F1) team to include Zyn branding – an acceleration of a problem supposedly remedied 20 years ago.
Between 1968 and 2006 F1 looked like a rolling cigarette ad, with the brakes applied only when countries started banning tobacco advertising in the lead up to and wake of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) ratifications. Even then, F1’s purported ‘ban’ on tobacco sponsorships was watered down to a recommendation, enabling PMI to continue using Ferrari in promotions.
By 2019, PMI and British American Tobacco (BAT) were using F1 as a vehicle to promote their newer products globally. From the start, the value of exposure for their e-cigarette, nicotine pouch and corporate campaign brands easily exceeded their sponsorship spend.
Brand exposure alone is a crude measure; who it reaches, how and where also matters. Tobacco industry watchdog STOP has detailed how F1’s growth strategy aligns with tobacco companies’ interests in targeting new consumers in the Eastern Mediterranean and Americas. Wildly popular shows like the Netflix series, Formula One: Drive to Survive and social media platforms allow both F1 and Big Tobacco to reach a vast audience that includes women and young people. F1’s CEO says it is becoming a global “business and entertainment platform” with a “year-round approach to keep [fans] hooked,” thus increasing sponsors’ brand exposure.
The fanbase is getting younger. F1 claims over 4 million American and European children between the ages of 8 and 12 already follow the sport. Its intention to “stay focused on the younger generation,” is reflected in F1 Kids programming and partnerships with LEGO, Disney and Mattel.
More than six in ten fans surveyed by Formula 1 and the Motorsport Network say they engage with F1 content daily and one in three say they are more likely to purchase from F1 partners, with favourability rising to 40% among Gen Z respondents. In short, F1 sponsorships may encourage children and young people to have a favorable perception of PMI and BAT’s products and encourage experimentation, planting a seed of initiation that may grow into a lifetime of addiction and harms.
A problem beyond F1
The U.S. is an important market for both companies. BAT has a multi-year deal with the Arrow McLaren team competing in IndyCar and fan activation and sales booths for PMI’s ZYN have already been seen at some races. Indycar markets itself as family-friendly and offers race experiences for 7-12 year old fans.
Reynolds American’s Grizzly nicotine pouches is an official partner of NASCAR, giving Grizzly naming rights and a presence at NASCAR-owned track campgrounds, saying this creates “opportunities to interact with adult fans in relaxed, social settings that are core to NASCAR culture.” Yet NASCAR also promotes itself as family-friendly, with a NASCAR Kids website and Kids Club and track campgrounds promoting family facilities and activities. Grizzly recently expanded its sponsorship of the Kaulig NASCAR team and other nicotine pouch brands are also present in the sport.
And it’s not just cars. In 2025, F1 owner Liberty Media took a majority stake in F1’s motorcycling equivalent, MotoGP, with a similar gameplan for growing the sport. PMI is a long-term sponsor of the Ducati MotoGP team. MotoGP and NASCAR both have “Drive to Survive”-type documentaries on Prime Video and Netflix, respectively.
Since June 2025, ZYN has been the title sponsor of the British Superbike Championship, meaning every time the championship is mentioned, so is ZYN. At least one sponsor says they may withdraw from the sport because “promoting substance addiction is not compatible with our philosophy of making life on bikes better.”
But voices of dissent are rare.
We cannot count on race teams to do the right thing
PMI and BAT are sponsoring motorsports that actively target youth. Amid growing concern about children’s and youth uptake of e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches – nicotine is especially harmful to developing brains – the companies are trying to mask addiction and harm in the imagery of sport and innovation.
Branding and sales at the race track, promotional activities and corporate hospitality are only part of the picture. Social media and global streaming platforms are delivering motorsport content featuring the industry’s brands into countries where these products or their advertising are banned or tightly restricted to protect the next generation.
A decision at the 10th FCTC Conference of the Parties that seeks to address this issue specifically mentions motorsports. Parties adopted specific guidelines on cross-border tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS), supplementing existing implementation guidelines for FCTC Article 13, which obliges Parties to eliminate all TAPS. Parties also called for cross-border collaboration to address the problem and were urged to use their “sovereign right” to “limit or prevent any cross-border tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship entering their territory.”
This can only be prevented through the implementation and enforement of truly comprehensive bans on all tobacco company advertising, promotions and sponsorships, with tobacco companies, sport owners, broadcasters and local promoters held accountable for violating national laws.
It works. In France, broadcaster Canal+ was taken to court for not doing enough to blur tobacco branding in live race footage. Notably, while F1 has made historic race footage featuring cigarette brands available in other countries, France’s strong laws mean it does not offer historic content in the French market.
Since 2020, STOP has called on the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, the sport’s governing body, to end tobacco company advertising and sponsorship. We recently joined 160 public health groups in signing a letter calling yet again for an end to tobacco sponsorships in F1. Meanwhile, the problem continues to grow.
Sports business experts estimate that the tobacco industry has spent more than US$4.6 billion to date in F1 alone. History and more recent experience suggest that motorsport’s stakeholders are unlikely to change gear and put young fans ahead of big tobacco’s money. Once again, it’s up to regulators to wave the checkered flag and stop driving addiction.
Author:
Jorge Alday, Director of STOP at Vital Strategies, USA
Acknowledgment: Dr. Raouf Alebshehy, Managing Editor, Tobacco Tactics, Tobacco Control Research Group, University of Bath, UK, provided review for this blog.