NASCAR and tobacco used to go hand and hand, as NASCAR grew-up in the Carolinas where every-year thousands of tobacco plants grow from the semi-tropical soil that is needed for its growth. For decades NASCAR was thrust into the main stream public with the help of two things, Bill France Jr. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Although NASCAR Hall-of-Famer France Jr. helped bring NASCAR to audiences nationwide through the use of Television and the media, R.J. Reynolds Company helped sponsor what is now the Sprint Cup Series for 33 years. Without the sponsorship from Winston many of the now famous races may have never have happened.
The NASCAR Winston Cup era lasted from 1970 to 2003 and gave rise to some of the biggest names in NASCAR.
In 2003, there were several stories about the future of NASCAR after losing such a long sponsor, but NASCAR survived.
Also surviving the sponsorship were a few tobacco sponsored cars although even before the news was announced that R.J. Reynolds was leaving NASCAR the number of tobacco sponsored cars were dwindling, a few still survived.
That was until the FDA passed a law that forbids cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products from advertising in sports.
As of the last races there were only two remaining tobacco sponsored cars, rather make that one car and one truck.
Greg Biffle drove the No. 27 Red Man sponsored Baker-Curb Ford in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Ron Hornaday drove the No. 33 Longhorn sponsored Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet in the Camping World Truck Series.
Both companies will have to find new sponsorship for the remaining races, in a tough economy to find sponsors.
While tobacco may no-longer be allowed on the track, it will be hard for NASCAR fans to forget the history that tobacco brought to the track from 1970-2003.
The majority of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco users are men, but female use is increasing (1,2). To examine differences in tobacco use and awareness of tobacco marketing by sex, CDC and health officials in Bangladesh, Thailand, and Uruguay (among the first countries to report results) analyzed 2009 data from a newly instituted survey, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated wide variation among the three countries in tobacco use, product types used, and marketing awareness among males and females.
In Bangladesh and Thailand, use of smoked tobacco products was far greater among males (44.7% and 45.6%, respectively) than females (1.5% and 3.1%, respectively).
In Uruguay, the difference was smaller (30.7% versus 19.8%). Use of smokeless tobacco products in Bangladesh was approximately the same among males (26.4%) and females (27.9%), but females were significantly more likely to use smokeless tobacco in Thailand (6.3% versus 1.3%), and use in Uruguay by either sex was nearly nonexistent. Males in Bangladesh were twice as likely as females to notice cigarette advertising (68.0% versus 29.3%), but the difference between males and females was smaller in Thailand (17.4% versus 14.5%) and Uruguay (49.0% versus 40.0%). In all three countries, awareness of tobacco marketing was more prevalent among females aged 15–24 years than older women. Comprehensive bans on advertising, sponsorship, and promotion of tobacco products, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), can reduce per capita cigarette consumption if enforced.
GATS is a new nationally representative household survey of persons aged 15 years, initially conducted during 2008–2009 in 14 countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russian Federation, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam. Bangladesh, Thailand, and Uruguay were among the first countries to report results. The GATS core questionnaire includes detailed questions regarding the demographic characteristics of respondents, their tobacco use, and a wide range of tobacco-related topics (e.g., cessation, secondhand smoke, economics, media, and knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions).
In each country, a multistage cluster sample design is used, with the number of households selected proportionate to population size. Households are chosen randomly within a primary sampling unit or secondary sampling unit, and one respondent is selected at random from each selected household to participate in the survey. Interviewers administer the survey in the country’s local language, using handheld electronic data collection devices. Interviews are conducted privately and same-sex interviewers are used in countries where culturally appropriate (e.g., Bangladesh). Response rates and number of participants for the three countries in 2009 were as follows: Bangladesh, 93.6% and 9,629; Thailand, 94.2% and 20,566; and Uruguay, 95.6% and 5,581.
To examine differences in tobacco use by sex, estimates of current tobacco use in the three countries were analyzed for both smoked tobacco products and smokeless tobacco products. To examine differences in tobacco marketing awareness by sex, “yes” responses were analyzed to questions regarding whether participants had noticed advertising, promotion, or sponsorship of cigarettes in the preceding 30 days. Estimates were reported for noticing any cigarette marketing, noticing marketing in stores where cigarettes are sold, and noticing marketing other than in stores where cigarettes are sold.
In Bangladesh, similar questions regarding bidi and smokeless cigarettes marketing were included in the survey. All estimates were weighted to reflect the noninstitutionalized population aged 15 years in each country, accounting for clustered sampling in the variance estimation. Statistical significance of differences in values was determined using a chi-square test.
In all three countries, current tobacco use of Marlboro, Red & White … was higher among males than females, but use of tobacco varied substantially by sex. In Bangladesh, overall smoking prevalence among females (1.5%) was far lower than males (44.7%) (Table 1). However, the prevalence of smokeless tobacco use among females (27.9%) and males (26.4%) was approximately the same. In Thailand, smoking prevalence was much lower among females, compared with males (3.1% versus 45.6%), but smokeless tobacco use was higher among females than males (6.3% versus 1.3%, respectively). In Uruguay, 19.8% of females were current smokers, compared with 30.7% of males, but only one of the 5,581 participants reported using smokeless tobacco.
Regardless of age group or region type (urban or rural), males were more likely to smoke than females in all three countries. Among both males and females, smoking prevalence varied by age group but did not vary greatly by region type. In Bangladesh and Thailand, smokeless tobacco use among both males and females increased with age group, and smokeless tobacco use was higher in rural than urban areas. In each of these countries, the greatest prevalence of smokeless tobacco use was among women aged 65 years: 64.1% in Bangladesh and 32.9% in Thailand.
The percentage of females who noticed any cigarette advertising, sponsorship, or promotion in the preceding 30 days was 29.3% in Bangladesh, 14.5% in Thailand, and 40.0% in Uruguay. Among males, the prevalence was 68.0% in Bangladesh, 17.4% in Thailand, and 49.0% in Uruguay. Among females, awareness of cigarette marketing in stores where cigarettes are sold was 22.0% in Bangladesh, 7.6% in Thailand, and 24.0% in Uruguay. In Thailand and Uruguay, little or no difference in awareness of in-store cigarette marketing was observed between males and females; however, in Bangladesh, the prevalence among males (54.8%) was more than double the prevalence among females. Similar patterns by sex were observed for awareness of cigarette marketing other than in stores where cigarettes are sold. The percentage of females who noticed tobacco advertising, sponsorship, or promotion other than in stores where cigarettes are sold was 16.5% in Bangladesh, 8.3% in Thailand, and 31.6% in Uruguay.
In all three countries, awareness of cigarette advertising was greater among females aged 15–24 years than women aged 25 years. Similar age differences were observed among males in all three countries. In Bangladesh, awareness of bidi (80.1%) and smokeless tobacco (69.9%) marketing was widespread among females and did not vary by age. In Thailand, for both males and females, those who lived in urban areas were more likely to report exposure to cigarette marketing than those in rural areas. This relationship also was observed among males in Uruguay. In contrast, awareness of both bidi and smokeless tobacco marketing in Bangladesh was more common among males in rural areas than in urban areas
NASCAR and tobacco used to go hand and hand, as NASCAR grew-up in the Carolinas where every-year thousands of tobacco plants grow from the semi-tropical soil that is needed for its growth. For decades NASCAR was thrust into the main stream public with the help of two things, Bill France Jr. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Although NASCAR Hall-of-Famer France Jr. helped bring NASCAR to audiences nationwide through the use of Television and the media, R.J. Reynolds Company helped sponsor what is now the Sprint Cup Series for 33 years. Without the sponsorship from Winston many of the now famous races may have never have happened.
