Misano MotoGp

[Rev004]

I heard on the radio today that Stoner has picked up a tobacco sponsor which has got a few noses out of joint here in Aus. Whats the scoop?

Yip it looks like he's copping some flack, here a piece from the brisbane times.

World champ Stoner 'a high-speed drug pusher'
Cathy O'Leary | August 29, 2008

AUSTRALIA'S world MotoGP champion and Young Australian of the Year, Casey Stoner, is being named and shamed in an aggressive campaign by anti-smoking groups which have labelled him as a "high-speed drug pusher."

They said images of the 22-year-old non-smoker and his bike covered in logos of Marlboro cigarettes while racing and in the media are sending the wrong message to his fans, particularly impressionable young children.

The anti-tobacco group Action on Smoking and Health, the youth health project Smarter than Smoking and the Australian Network on Young People and Tobacco have written to Stoner and his management at Ducati calling on him to relinquish his sponsorship deal with tobacco giant Philip Morris.

The groups claim he is being used as a "Marlboro Man" to promote addictive, lethal products, and although tobacco sponsorship and advertising is banned in Australia, images featuring him plastered in tobacco logos can be readily seen in the media.

They have also written to the National Australia Day Council saying they are concerned that its Young Australian of the Year is actively promoting smoking to the rest of the world.

But in an emailed response last week, Stoner said that while he understood their views and agreed that children should not smoke, he did not believe Philip Morris's sponsorship of Ducati was aimed at young people.

"At the same time I firmly believe that every adult human being should retain the right to make his or her own decisions in life, whether correct or not," he said.

But the Smarter than Smoking co-ordinator, Fiona Phillips, said Stoner's association with Philip Morris significantly undermined efforts in Australia to stop young people from taking up smoking.

And the ASH chief executive, Anne Jones, rejected the claim that Philip Morris did not encourage children to smoke, accusing it of spending huge amounts to attract new smokers, most of whom were children.

"Casey Stoner is the new Marlboro Man and while he might have a lucrative contract with his sponsor, as a champion he is a role model to children and young people worldwide and he's being exploited as a high-speed drug pusher," she said.

Philip Morris in Australia declined to comment and Stoner's management in Italy could not be reached for comment.