| Marlboro Man | |
|---|---|
 A Marlboro Man advertisement on a Warsaw building in 2000. | |
| First appearance | 1954 |
| Last appearance | 1999 |
| Created by | Leo Burnett Worldwide |
The Marlboro Man is a figure that was used in tobacco advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by advertising executive Leo Burnett in 1954. The images initially featured rugged men portrayed in a variety of roles[1] but later primarily featured a rugged cowboy or cowboys in picturesque wild terrain.[2] The ads were originally conceived as a way to popularize filtered cigarettes, which at the time were considered feminine.[3]
The campaign, created by Leo Burnett Worldwide, is said to be one of the most brilliant advertisement campaigns of all time.[4] It transformed a feminine campaign, with the slogan "Mild as May", into one that was masculine, in a matter of months. Ellen Merlo, the vice president of marketing services at Philip Morris, was quoted in a 1989 Marlboro advertisement: "We perceive Formula One and Indy car racing as adding, if you will, a modern-day dimension to the Marlboro Man. The image of Marlboro is very rugged, individualistic, heroic. And so is this style of auto racing. From an image standpoint, the fit is good.”[5]
Cowboys proved to be popular, which led to the "Marlboro Cowboy" and "Marlboro Country" campaigns.[6][7]
- ^ "Industry Documents Library". www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
- ^ Not always smoking or holding a cigarette, sometimes the cowboy was just a small silhouette in a large landscape, but the brand name or an image of a packet of the product was always shown in large size
- ^ See Marlboro man advertising illustrations
- ^ Katie Connolly (3 January 2011). "Six ads that changed the way you think". BBC.
- ^ Quoted in Jordan Goodman, Tobacco in History and Culture (2005) p. 595.
- ^ See Marlboro man advertising illustrations
- ^ Vintage Ads: 1975 "Marlboro Country" ad campaign One such Marlboro Man was Robert C. Norris, a rancher discovered on his Colorado Ranch in the early 1960s as the ad shoot was in progress. Norris replaced the hired male model. He remained in the role for 12 years. On January 10, 2014, Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.