There could be trouble brewing for F1 sponsor Heineken following a decision by the Hungarian government to ban the Dutch beer's red star logo on the grounds that it is a Communist symbol.
The Hungarian government last month voted to ban all totalitarian symbols from use in the country, which has seen a political shift to the right in recent years. While the focus of the ban was ostensibly on far-right imagery associated with Nazism and fascism, left-wing symbols including the hammer and sickle and the red star of Communism have also been banned in the "interests of domestic public order and public morality".
Heineken has been warned that if they do not change their branding in the Hungarian market that they could face millions of euros in fines, plus the prospect of jail terms for Heineken executives in the country.
"Any company using such symbols will be affected," Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovács told the Financial Times.
Heineken have used a variation of the red star as their main logo since the 1880s, although over the years the amount of red in the star has ebbed and flowed. In 1930, the Dutch brewer branded their beer with a fully red star, but after the Second World War the logo changed to a white star with a red border. The amount of red increased over the years, and by 1991 -- incidentally the year in which the Soviet Union collapsed -- Heineken's star was fully red once more.
"Naturally, the red Heineken star has no political meaning whatsoever and we use the same brand symbols across the world, in every market," the brewer said in a statement. "We will closely monitor this local matter, and hope and trust that this matter will be resolved soon."
The general consensus among industry experts is that the ban on political symbols is less to do with any sense of public order or decency, and is instead a form of political protectionism designed to provide a favourable operating environment for Hungarian businesses. Viktor Orban, the right-leaning prime minister of Hungary, rose to power on a wave of promises linked to 'economic patriotism' and what he called a 'moral obligation' to protect Hungarian business in an increasingly globalised world.
But the Heineken ban is also seen by many as being retribution for a recent decision by the Romanian courts to award the Dutch brewer the win in a trademark case involving the red starred beer and a local brew popular with ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania.
While a trademark battle -- or a protectionist effort to tax foreign business, depending on your perspective -- would traditionally have little place on an F1 website, Heineken's role as official sponsor of Formula One does make the news paddock-relevant.
The Hungarian Grand Prix is the last round before the F1 summer break, and as a result is one of the season's natural 'party races', culminating in a massive post-race bash on Sunday evening. A bash at which a not inconsiderable amount of Heineken will be on offer...
But the partying is only the tip of the iceberg. Heineken's brand activation in Formula One has involved considerable trackside signage, not least the 'if you drive, never drink' posters that have become part of the F1 furniture since the sponsorship deal was announced in Montreal last June.
Part of F1's appeal to Heineken was the opportunity for a unified global push, maintaining a coherent brand identity across the 20 markets visited by the sport each year. Should the Dutch brewer be forced to change their branding for one of the 20 race weekends on offer this season, that will represent a five percent dilution of their projected impact over the course of the year.