Marlboro Ads Campaign
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Marlboro ad campaign
Did Marlboro implant their image in the consumers mind? Philip Morris launched the Marlboro brand in 1924 as a womans cigarette in the 1920s advertising for the cigarette was officially based around how ladylike the cigarette was. The filter had a printed red band around it to hide lipstick stains and in its campaign saying it is as mild as May. The Marlboro cigarette brand began in England 1847 and was originally targeted at female smokers. Which was not successful, so in the 1920s Marlboro was retargeted to female smokers in the United States. In this campaign ad it was told that Marlboro was a mild cigarette. These efforts continued into World War II when the brand was eventually taken off the market. In the 1950s Marlboro was again introduced to the market, this time warning people about the negative health aspects of smoking. At that time the vast majority of cigarettes being sold were non-filtered. Marlboro was the first filtered cigarette, so this clearly was an attempt to win over the health crowd. During the 1950s, the company decided to dump the targeting of women and begin promoting Marlboro as a mans cigarette. The first icon of this new change in marketing was the Tattooed Man various images of healthy looking, outdoor type began showing up in ads. The images used in their ads evolved more into those representing particularly masculine types. In the beginning, images of naval officers and ranchers made the advertising scene. In 1954, the well-known Marlboro Man was introduced, and by 1960 was the sole representative of Marlboro ads, around 1972, Marlboro cigarettes became the most popular brand and remained popular up till nowadays.
Marlboro advertisements began for females starting with mothers, with an ad campaign of a baby saying “before you scold me, mom. maybe youd light up a Marlboro” the baby actually asks his mom to have a cigarette instead of scolding him. It plays up the women as hysterical stereotype and also shows changing expectations about good motherhood. Later that year after done trying to focus only on female smokers they started to come up with new ads to attract both genders, both getting along and having a good time, the male is smoking a cigarette while the saying in the background goes “when theirs a man theirs is a Marlboro”3 then he gets out his pack gives the female one lights it up for her and the slogan and catch phrase for that time throughout most of the ads through 1950-1960 were “youve got a lot to like with Marlboro more flavor, more filter, more cigarette” ,”You get a lot to like in a Marlboro filter, flavor, flip-top box”3, thats when the flip top box came out, later that year the soft pack came out creating a buzz in all their advertisements. Not only were they trying to attract people by the catch phrase and packaging of the product, saying if youre a man you should be smoking Marlboro, at the same time they were trying to attract women that are independent and strong.
Marlboro was not only popular in the U.S; it was also internationally advertised by the whole world, Europe had a Marlboro ad which was similar to the US but reformed the phrase “youve got a lot to like with Marlboro, more flavor, more filter, more cigarette”3 to “get the most from life with Marlboro,long-size,filter,Cigarette”3 this was said while a man was fishing when he catches a fish he then lights up a Marlboro to celebrate, Latin America also had their unique Marlboro version.
In the early ads Marlboro pursued to pair smoking with active and healthy lifestyles. Through its advertisements, it created associations between smoking and athletic activities like tennis, golf, swimming, football, track and field and skiing. These activities were often showed in cigarette advertising as activities demanding a cigarette for enhanced performance and even sometimes good health. They even used some actors and athletes as a marketing strategy as we do today to get the consumer to need that product, baseball for instants trading cards with players images emerged within cigarette packages, nowadays you find Marlboro sponsors on NASCAR and formula 1 cars, back then Marlboro even sponsored the Emmy awards.
The one and only Marlboro women I didnt even know that she even existed, there wasnt a lot of video campaign ads of her but I managed to find one, Marlboro women is wearing a mans uniform and holding a rifle ,takes a shot then she fades out and appears fully dressed like an elegant women, she then gets out a cigarette and lights it up the ad says “Marlboro Women whats she like, shes all women, shes home in a mans world and knows a good clean when she sees it”3 they were trying to attract females by showing them that smoking is as powerful as holding a gun in a mans world to make them feel as if they need that empowerment .
The first Marlboro man ad was shown thats when they started to layoff women from their advertisements, we all know that the first Marlboro man was a cowboy but he wasnt They were all sorts of rugged individuals who smoked their cigarettes while performing equally manly tasks, from fixing their cars to fishing or hunting, the first Marlboro man, the cowboy had a tattoo on his hand that showed when he lights up a cigarette or while getting his pack out, it was a sign of ruggedness and masculinity.
By the end of 1960s they were focusing more on men that all their advertisements where placed in Marlboro country , which was in the country side, all of them are cowboys spending their time herding cattles ,riding their horses in the country side and hunting, and the phrase for Marlboro country theme for that time was “come to where the flavor is come to Marlboro country” , by Marlboro country they mean America the West , they even made a song about it saying that “it came out of Virginia spread across the land when folks vote for flavor they vote for the one with the Marlboro brand”4. The whole Marlboro country theme was to show the audience ,viewer or the consumer that Marlboro men dont have a watch to look at they are free, independent, fierce and rugged at the same time. Marlboros move to symbol masculinity is a successful move that they still benefit from it until today because the cowboy is an iconic figure to the American people he is what they call a man.
After smoking was banned from television; Marlboro switched to advertising in magazines, newspaper and billboards showing images of a cowboy on a horse, his lasso in the air and a cigarette in