“But perhaps its most iconic reinvention came with the longstanding
Marlboro Man campaign, which ran from 1963 to 1971. In an article
by Denver Post journalist Jim Carrier, who spent six months traveling
across the American West to meet former Marlboro Men, we’re told
that the campaign began in late 1954, when ad exec Leo Burnett asked
his top creatives, ‘What is the most masculine image in the U.S. today?’
According to Carrier, ‘Philip Morris, the fourth-largest American tobacco
company, wanted to create a filter cigarette to deal with the rising problem
of smoker’s cough and lung disease. But they had to overcome the early
image of filters as being for sissies.'”
Related story from The New York Times on Monday, March 1 —
Related flashback from this journal on Sunday, February 28 —
