Tobacco Ban Set For Summer

The legislation for a tobacco advertisement ban, announced in the Queen’s speech last week, is set to be introduced in a draft Bill this summer. Frank Dobson, Secretary of State for Health, also confirmed yesterday what many in the media industry already knew: that a tobacco advertising ban would include a ban on tobacco sponsorship, which could financially ruin many sports. The Bill would phase the ban in slowly to allow sports to find new sponsors.

Reports in the press today suggest that the biggest losers in this, such as Formula One, would either move abroad to countries where such sponsorship is allowed, or implement new methods whereby different ads could be shown in different countries. This would implement the technology previewed last year *(New Ad Technology For Sport) which superimposes different ad images onto blank advertising hoardings depending on where the broadcast was being transmitted. This would allow advertising and sponsorship banners and hoardings to be shown in countries where no ban exists while viewers in Britain would see completely different messages.

Source: Independent newspaper

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