comment #1

Ray says ...

The ad is from 1950. 30 seconds of Google, you're welcome.

comment #2

Ray says ...

http://www.vintageadsandstuff.com/adsmarlboro.html

comment #3

MrTribeca says ...

Google is for fags.

comment #4

Redbeard says ...

LOL. That one took me a second.

comment #5

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

Originals of these were on several walls at Leo Burnett when I worked there. Marlboro was originally a woman's cigarette, and then Phillip Morris wanted a man's cigarette but it was easier to rebrand something that already had shelf space than to introduce a new brand. So they went from this campaign to one with all kinds of manly men smoking the sissy English-named brand-- oilriggers, tugboat captains, and... cowboys. The cowboys stuck and Marlboro became the number one brand of cancer sticks...

...mainly because they were the number one brand among women, who if they were going to smoke like a man, didn't want something girly. (Although I also later worked for the guy who invented "You've come a long way, baby" for Virginia Slims. And trust me, he was every bit as much of a feminist as Don Draper.)

comment #6

Jesse Crall says ...

Makes me think of Betty Draper.

I was doing research for some freshman paper and I looked through a bunch of old New Yorkers from the 50's and early 60's. Without exaggerating, I'd say at least half the ads were for hard liquour, some of which were types I'd never heard of. My grandparents love Mad Men because they're so impressed with how realistic it all is. Very funny stuff, in retrospect.

comment #7

Glenn Kenny says ...

Interesting info, Corbeau. When I was a smoker I always thought that relative to Winstons and Luckies, Marlboros were, if not exactly weak, then not what you'd call competitively strong.

comment #8

The Hoyk says ...

Corbeau, when you were at Leo Burnett, did you ever cross paths with Nina Abnee? She was married to my late cousin Victor, and would tell me some great tales from the front, like how Dennis Haysbert had to do a surprisingly large number of takes for his Allstate spots to nail the ad copy down.

comment #9

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

Haysbert doing Allstate would be after my time, but I heard similar things about Gene Hackman doing the United voiceovers-- stitched together one word at a time. I think that's actually not that uncommon about actors suddenly forced to stand there and read.

comment #10

alico says ...

Mommy is stressed out because she's working as a riveter at an aircraft construction plant near Long Beach while Daddy is off fighting the Japs and the Germans...something like that?