Winfield (cigarette)

Winfield is an Australian brand of cigarettes, currently owned by multinational company British American Tobacco. Cigarettes are manufactured and imported by British American Tobacco Australia (BATA), a subsidiary of British American Tobacco.

Winfield was first launched in 1972. Winfield has been mainly sold in Australia and New Zealand, but was also sold in Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Italy and South Africa.

In 2004, British American Tobacco Australia shipped 853 billion Winfield cigarettes, which made it the second largest tobacco company and Winfield the largest brand in Australia before Altria and Longbeach. Both BATA and Philip Morris International had a 40% market share in the Australian cigarette market.

In response to court enforceable undertakings by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2005, the major tobacco companies removed the terms 'light' and 'mild' from their packaging. The undertakings by the ACCC also required BATA to not make claims about the health benefits of low yield cigarettes when compared to high yield cigarettes, and pay $4 million AUD to the ACCC to fund anti-smoking consumer education campaigns and programs concerning low yield cigarettes. There was also a similar action taken against Imperial Tobacco which required a $1 million to the ACCC AUD.

As of 2016, no tobacco products are manufactured in Australia. British American Tobacco, responsible for the Winfield brand, stopped doing so in 2015.

In 2017–18, the total revenue of the Australian tobacco product wholesaling market was $2.7 billion AUD, of which BATA comrpised $1.79 billion AUD. Factory-made cigarettes comprised 87.7% of the wholesale tobacco market, roll-your-own tobacco was 11.0%, and the remaining 1.3% consistent of other tobacco products including cigars, cigarillos and pipe tobacco.

Winfield was a major sponsor of sport in Australia until outlawed by the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 that banned all tobacco advertising and sponsorship starting from December 1995 onwards. Some limited exemptions were granted for the Australian Grand Prix and the Australian Open Golf, hence Winfield was seen at the Australian Grand Prix in 1998 and 1999 when it was the title sponsor of the Williams F1 Team.

Winfield was the main sponsor of the Williams F1 Team in 1998 and 1999. The sponsorship was part of the deal Williams signed with the then-parent company of Winfield, Rothmans International, whose flagship brand had sponsored the multi-time world championship team since 1994. Among the drivers who ran under the Winfield colors for Williams were former world champion Jacques Villeneuve and former IndyCar Series champion Alex Zanardi. The arrangement came to an end following the 1999 season as British American Tobacco had purchased Rothmans International, and since they were already owners of their own Formula 1 operation, they chose instead to focus their sponsorship on their own team. ^{[citation needed]}