Marlboro is the largest selling brand of cigarettes in the world. It is made by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the US, and by Philip Morris International outside the US. It is famous for its billboard advertisements and magazine ads of the Marlboro Man.
The brand is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London factory. Richmond, Virginia is now the location of the largest Marlboro cigarette manufacturing plant.
Marlboro cigarettes packs
Philip Morris launched the Marlboro brand in 1924 as a woman’s cigarette, based on the slogan “Mild As May”. In the 1920s, advertising for the cigarette was primarily based around how ladylike the cigarette was. To this end, the filter had a printed red band around it to hide lipstick stains, calling it “Beauty Tips to Keep the Paper from Your Lips”.
The brand was sold in this capacity until World War II when the brand faltered and was temporarily removed from the market. At the end of the war, three brands emerged that would establish a firm hold on the cigarette market: Camel, Lucky Strike, and Chesterfield. These brands were supplied to US soldiers during the war, creating an instant market upon their return.
After scientists published a major study linking smoking to lung cancer in the 1950s, Philip Morris repositioned Marlboro as a men’s cigarette in order to fit a market niche of men who were concerned about lung cancer, but not wanting to admit it. At the time, filtered cigarettes were considered safer than unfiltered cigarettes, but had been until that time only marketed to women. Men at the time indicated that while they would consider switching to a filtered cigarette, they were concerned about being seen smoking a cigarette marketed to women.
The repositioning of Marlboro as a men’s cigarette was handled by Chicago advertiser Leo Burnett. The proposed campaign was to present a lineup of manly figures: sea captains, weightlifters, war correspondents, construction workers, etc. The cowboy was to have been the first in this series. While Philip Morris was concerned about the campaign, they eventually greenlighted the campaign.
Within a year, Marlboro’s market share rose from less than one percent to the fourth best-selling brand. This convinced Philip Morris to drop the lineup of manly figures and stick with the cowboy imagery.
In order to comply with a court ruling USA vs. Philip Morris, Philip Morris is now prevented from using Marlboro products previously marketed in the United States as “Lights”, “Ultra-Lights”, “Medium”, “Mild”, or any similar designation that yields an impression that some tobacco products are comparatively safe. Similar restrictions were applied in the European Union some years ago.
