Footnotes / references Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1
Rothmans International PLC was a British tobacco manufacturer. Its brands included Rothmans, Player's and Dunhill. Its international headquarters were in Hill Street, London and its international operations were run from Denham Place in Denham Village, Buckinghamshire.
In the 1970s, Rothmans became involved in sponsorships, sponsoring the British Olympic team in 1972 and the inaugural Hong Kong Sevens in 1976. They also sponsored Rothmans Football Yearbook, an annual football reference book, from 1970 until 2002.
In Malaysia, Rothmans was one of the popular brands of cigarette, so much so that one of the roundabouts in Petaling Jaya was named 'Rothmans Roundabout' owing to its proximity to the former headquarters of Rothmans of Pall Mall Malaysia (now British American Tobacco Malaysia). It has since converted to a 4-way junction.[4]
In January 1996, the Rembrandt Group and Richemont merged their tobacco businesses under the "Rothmans International" name.[6] Then, in 1999, Rothmans was acquired by British American Tobacco.[1] The takeover resulted in the closure of the Rothmans Spennymoor and Darlington manufacturing plants in 2000 and 2001, respectively, with production moved to a larger plant at Southampton.
Sponsorship of motorsports
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A of Allan Moffat & John Harvey, winner of the 1987 Monza 500, on display at the Historic Sandown 2009
Rothmans was an active promoter of motorsports in the 1980s and 1990s.
From 1982 onwards, Rothmans supported the factory Porsche sports car racing effort, winning the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans with a 1-2-3 finish with their Porsche 956. They would win the event a further three times in the 1980s. Rothmans-Porsche also won the 1985 World Sportscar Championship before the team officially pulled out of the championship in 1987.
Rothmans were the title and founding partner of the Rothmans-Porsche Challenge Cup single-make Porsche 944 series founded by Jack Christie,[7] which ran from 1986 to 1991.
Rothmans sponsorship also extended to rallying, where they sponsored Walter Röhrl's 1982World Rally Championship-winning Opel Ascona 400. In 1984 Porsche produced the 911 SC RS rally car specifically for Rothmans with the car being run by David Richards and the newly formed [[Prodrive](set up and run by both Ian Parry & David Richards]. Rothmans also sponsored the winning Porsche team at the 1986 Paris-Dakar rally. Porsche has revived the 911 Dakar model introduced to their 2023 spring lineup being promoted as having roots in the Rothmans 911 and although it is all wheel drive and lifted, it carries the same colors and similar patterns the Rothmans car displayed along with the Rothmans moniker on the sides. That logo has been dropped in exchange for the logo “Roughroad” on the sides. A limited run of 2,500 cars are being made. The original three digit numbers (#175) can be used or any three digit number can be chosen by the buyer. Base price is just over $230,000 and an additional amount of options can add well over $100,000 extra.
Porsche left rallying when the Group B category was dropped, and Rothmans transferred its association to the Subarurally team, also run by Prodrive (Ian Parry and David Richards). Coincidentally, Richards was sponsored by Rothmans when he was co-driving Ari Vatanen to his privateer 1981World Drivers' Championship success aboard the Ford Escort RS1800. The association with Prodrive would last until 1992, when their sponsorship was replaced by sister brand State Express 555.
Between 1985 and 1993, Rothmans supported the works Honda team in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Rothmans then transferred their association to Williams during the World Championship from 1994 until 1997. However, their time with Williams was marred when Ayrton Senna, considered by some to be the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time, died behind the wheel of the Rothmans-Williams during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Damon Hill won the 1996 title and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. Sponsorship was transferred in 1998 to Winfield, another sister brand.