ROTHMANS PUTS CARS AND COUNTRY ON THE WEB
By Adnews Staff
Rothmans, Benson & Hedges is back into advertising - sort of. The company is sponsoring a spot on the World Wide Web devoted to Formula 1 car racing and country music. The Planet Genesis division of Genesis Media in Toronto has put together the Canadian On-line Network Entertainment Centre <http://www.connect.ca> for the tobacco company. The Rothmans Formula 1 site carries news and information related to car racing. At the Craven "A" Today's Country site, Net surfers can get the skinny on their favorite country singers, along with sound bites. Rothmans has put the home page up at a time when tobacco companies are stepping gingerly in the area of self-promotion. Although the cigarette firms won a legal battle last year when the Supreme Court of Canada effectively struck down a federal law banning all advertising, the federal Health Ministry is promising to come back with a vengeance. The feds say this time they will write anti-tobacco advertising legislation that will stick - and go even further than the old law by banning sponsorship of sporting and cultural events.