McLaren will provide more promotional spots on its cars next year and BAT will also be a partner for the team as it returns to full-time IndyCar competitions in the US, the company said today.
Restrictions in several Formula One racing locations forced McLaren to strip BAT labels for Vype and Vuse vaping products from the cars this season.
In March, the World Health Organisation urged member countries to ban tobacco advertising when hosting or broadcasting Formula One events.
BAT left Formula One more than a decade ago when the European Union began restricting tobacco advertising in sporting events.
Philip Morris International Inc quietly kept sponsoring Scuderia Ferrari but took its brand logos off the vehicles.
Last year Ferrari cars and uniforms at some races started to display the slogan “Mission Winnow”.
Philip Morris says it created the programme to highlight new initiatives and spur discussion rather than promoting specific products, but it was barred from some Formula One races.
BAT said it’s introducing the Vuse vaping brand outside the US this weekend at the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.
Next year McLaren cars will also display the brands of its Glo tobacco-heating and Velo oral-nicotine products.
This year, in places that prohibit tobacco marketing, McLaren cars shifted ads to other brands such as convenience-store operator 7-Eleven and duty-free retailer Dufry.
In China, instead of advertising products, BAT changed the spots to include its slogan “A Better Tomorrow.”
Vaping is facing a backlash in the US after the outbreak of a mystery illness linked to the practice.
BAT yesterday lowered its outlook for sales growth from new products due to the slowdown in the US.
The company has invested US$4 billion in new product categories in the past five years as the tobacco industry introduces more alternatives to smoking.
Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, has campaigned and given money in support of a nationwide ban on flavoured e-cigarettes and tobacco.