There's a price to be paid for virtual advertising

RTE'S Head of Sport Tim O'Connor appears to be correct in his meandering letter of last Monday in this newspaper in asserting there is no technology available to replace tobacco logos on moving Formula One cars. Aside from the drastic action of taking tobacco sponsors' names off the machines, there are no means available to protect children from exposure to this type of tobacco glamorisation.

But virtual advertising does exist which can remove offensive products from the fixed advertising around Formula One circuits, which we are all asked to believe is "incidental". It has been available for some years.

According to an analysis of Europe's Sports Sponsorship Industry by Simon Rines in International Marketing Reports, virtual advertising is the placing of advertising on screen through electronic rather than physical means. Rines explains "this would mean that perimeter advertising in a stadium could be completely different from that viewed on a television broadcast".

He goes on to say "the technology is relatively new and there has been resistance to its introduction, particularly from public service broadcasters, but recent announcements suggest that widespread use is imminent". The real problem, it appears, is not the technology but who owns the rights, how it can be policed and who regulates it. In other words, virtual money.