| Title: |
Alcohol-free branding in formula one: stealth marketing strategy or something more? |
| Authors: |
Ruberti M.; La Martina A. |
| Contributors: |
Ruberti, M; La Martina, A |
| Publisher Information: |
Emerald Publishing; GB |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Collection: |
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca: BOA (Bicocca Open Archive) |
| Subject Terms: |
Alcohol-free beer; Alibi branding; Formula one; Public health; Regulatory framework; Sports marketing; Stealth marketing |
| Description: |
PurposeThis paper studies how alcohol sponsors in Formula One (F1) adapt their branding strategies across changeable regulatory environments. It enquires whether alcohol-free activations exclusively serve as compliance devices or, on the contrary, as deliberate stealth and alibi strategies that ensure parent-brand visibility and cultural meaning.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted a visual-content analysis of the complete broadcast footage from all the 22 Grands Prix of the 2023 F1 season, using a one-minute interval coding protocol. The analysis captured the frequency and type of brand exposure, differentiating between alcoholic and alcohol-free variants and documented the use of responsibility slogans.FindingsDespite a variable legal background, alcohol-related branding is becoming more prevalent in F1 broadcasts. The analysis reveals a noticeable shift in sponsorship content towards alcohol-free variants and responsibility messages, which often coexist with - and sometimes replace - explicit alcohol promotion. When interpreted through the relevant marketing frameworks, these activations operate both as stealth cues (low-salience, repeated exposures that reduce audience persuasion knowledge activation) and alibi devices (line extensions and shared semiotics that sustain parent-brand equity across jurisdictions).Originality/valueBy combining exhaustive season-long broadcast coding with a theory-driven interpretive framework, this study provides the first systematic cross-jurisdictional analysis of alcohol-free branding in F1. It contributes to sport marketing scholarship by integrating stealth and alibi perspectives and offers practical insights for regulators, rights-holders and public health stakeholders concerned with surrogate sponsorship and hidden promotion. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
STAMPA |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:001618987200001; firstpage:1; lastpage:23; numberofpages:23; journal:INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS MARKETING & SPONSORSHIP; https://hdl.handle.net/10281/588791 |
| DOI: |
10.1108/IJSMS-04-2025-0135 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/10281/588791; https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSMS-04-2025-0135 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ; license:Creative Commons ; license uri:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.4E59FD38 |
| Database: |
BASE |