Marlboro Man is a famous campaign conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. The primary aim was to popularize filtered cigarettes that were considered feminine during that period. Marlboro Man campaign transformed a feminine product that had the tagline ‘Mild as May’ into a masculine product within months.
In the early 1950s, the cigarette industry started to promote filtered cigarettes in response to emerging scientific data about the harmful effects of smoking. Under the misconception of filtered cigarettes were safer, other brands also started to sell filtered cigarettes. But Marlboro cigarettes were considered to be women’s cigarettes. However, market research showed that men were also willing to switch to a filtered cigarette.
Then the idea came. The repositioning of Marlboro as a men’s cigarette was done by famous advertiser Leo Burnett. The cigarette industry and other brands wanted to ease out the fears that filtered smoking is not harmful, but Leo Burnett took a completely different approach. Leo Burnett thought that making claims about the effectiveness of filters can further the concerns of the long-term effects of smoking.
Burnett introduced- Marlboro Man. The cowboy was the first in the series that was followed by sea captains, weightlifters, war correspondents, and construction workers. The convinced Phillip Morris then dropped the other line-up and stuck to the cowboy image. The approach appealed to the men well. Men opted for Marlboro as a sign of showing masculine power.
In 1955, when the Marlboro Man campaign started, sales were at $5 billion. By 1957, sales were at $20 billion- a 300% jump within two years. By 1972, Marlboro Man had so much appeal that Marlboro cigarettes were the top cigarette in the tobacco industry.
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