Damon opts for a smoke-screen

In the run-up to the Australian Grand Prix you couldn’t move for newspaper and magazine supplements sponsored by Benson & Hedges – one of Formula One’s biggest financial supporters and the UK’s best-selling tobacco brand.

Which makes it all the more surprising to see an ad featuring Damon Hill in the finery of his Benson & Hedges Jordan racing suit with the name on his baseball cap blurred and the B&H logo around his neck folded to obscure the name.

The ad, promoting Cellnet’s Traffic Line information service, was created by Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO – an agency that not only has a no-tobacco-clients policy but also works for the anti-tobacco lobby group Action on Smoking & Health.