Global Appeal

Sport is a celebration of life. From the impromptu game in the park to school teams and local leagues to national championships, world cups and the Olympics – sports inspire healthy living, healthy competition and fun.

Tobacco products, on the other hand, do not celebrate life – they cause disease and death. Tobacco kills more than four million people every year, and is estimated to kill 8.4 million people every year by 2020.

For the professional athlete, tobacco use lowers performance level and can end a career. Even for people who play sport at a less intense level – simply playing frisbee with their children, taking part in weekend football with friends or doing a charity fun-run – smoking can affect their ability to perform. In one study, of 4,100 regular joggers who took part in a yearly 16km race, smokers were consistently slower than non-smokers. It was estimated that for every cigarette smoked per day, the time to complete the run was increased by 40 seconds. Smoking reduces lung capacity, increases recovery time and destroys the benefits of exercise and sport.

For the spectator at sports events, tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke contributes to the development of disease and reduces their enjoyment of the game. For sports teams and facilities, tobacco advertising and sponsorship run counter to the ideals of health and fair play embodied in sports. For the companies who co-sponsor sports events along with tobacco companies, the reputation of the hazard merchants becomes indelibly associated with their products. In short, tobacco and sports do not mix.

Many athletes, sports fans and spectators are young people. Recent data suggest that one-third of young smokers start before the age of ten, and the vast majority of adult smokers started before the age of 18. Youth consumption of tobacco is up in many parts of the world. Most people who start so young become addicted to nicotine very early in life.

Tobacco companies claim that they do not target youth, but in practice they ensure that sponsorship and advertising flourish at events attended by and attractive to youth. Team jerseys and caps, tote bags and T-shirts, fields and stadia, cars and sports equipment bearing tobacco brand logos create a positive association between tobacco and the strength, speed, grace, success, fun and excitement of sports.

In 2000, a BBC investigation in the Gambia, found that BAT sponsored beach volleyball during the school holidays, and handed out free cigarettes and branded merchandise for its Benson and Hedges brand – the promotion was clearly designed to promote a youthful exciting beach sports culture around its product. In Colombia, Marlboro – the world's highest selling cigarette – sponsors kart racing, a sport where almost all of the participants are children and teenagers.

The tobacco industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year sponsoring sports around the world, mainly on high-profile, exciting sports which receive a lot of television coverage. In their internal documents, they are remarkably frank about the real reasons why they do this. The reasons why tobacco companies sponsor sporting events include trying to get around advertising restrictions; wanting to associate their cigarettes with healthy, active pursuits; and trying to create an image of respectability for companies rocked by accusations of smuggling and racketeering.

Sports sponsorship has become increasingly important to the tobacco industry as other promotional routes have been cut off by governments around the world. In particular, sponsorship has substantially increased since tobacco advertising on television has been banned in most countries.

Tobacco multinationals sponsor sporting events around the world. Here are just a couple of examples:

Pakistan

The BAT brand John Player Gold Leaf has sponsored an ocean-going sailing boat, the "Voyage of Discovery" to undertake a tour around the Indian sub-continent. This boat, the same type as those used in long-distance sailing races, was marketed as being part of an exciting, sporting lifestyle. After being banned from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the boat arrived for a promotional visit to Karachi. BAT gave a gift of Rs 4.5 million (approx. US$ 75,000) to a local radio station for a live broadcast of the climax of the event, a concert for local young people. Health groups again believe that this donation helped to improve the publicity and to dull criticism of the activities.

Worldwide

Formula One Motor racing is the sport most closely associated with tobacco sponsorship. Tobacco sponsorship accounted for around two thirds of the sponsorship of the sport up to 1999.

In 1999, around US$ 250 million was invested by tobacco companies in Formula One teams, with British American Racing (BAR) (US$ 75 million), McLaren (US$ 45 million) and Ferrari (US$ 63 million) the most sponsored teams. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile Association (FIA), Formula One's governing body have, however, undertaken voluntarily to end tobacco sponsorship of the sport by 2006. As a result, the prevalence of tobacco sponsorship, while still extremely high, is beginning to fall.