As an increasing number of countries are banning various forms of direct advertising of tobacco products, tobacco companies have been shifting their attention to indirect promotion of their products by such means as sponsorship of sports and arts events. For a relatively minor donation to culture, tobacco companies buy their way into the advertising market, where they spend millions of dollars ensuring that the public remains familiar with the colours, logos and images of their brands. Studies confirm that the small fraction of money that may be received from tobacco companies for sponsorship of the sports and arts contrasts strongly with the societal costs that result from tobacco-induced diseases. In many cases, sponsorship also allows tobacco companies to reach a global audience, and is a imaginative way to circumvent advertising bans of tobacco products on television.
Sponsorship is believed to be an effective way of improving the tobacco industry's image.
A positive association is created between arts, sports and cigarette smoking. Consumers, especially young people, are encouraged to associate smoking with high level sport, art and cultural achievement. And so, smoking continues to be promoted as positive social behaviour and another generation of new smokers is recruited. And the very lives that sports and arts are supposed to enhance are hindered by the use of this hazardous substance. Motor racing has become a non-stop cigarette commercial Although tobacco advertisements may be banned on television in a number of countries, sponsors of sporting events still receive million of dollars worth of constant television exposure.