“THE MARLBORO STORY” 1969 PHILIP MORRIS BIG TOBACCO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN LEO BURNETT AGENCY 65934

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This 1969 color “puff piece” on the history of the Marlboro cigarette brand chronicles the origins of one of history's greatest ad campaigns. Made as a brag piece, the film also illustrates how the Philip Morris Corporation preyed on consumers during the 50s and 60s by shifting their branding and advertising approaches to suggest hazy links between tobacco use and masculinity. The faces of the businessmen behind the brand’s “cowboy” image are revealed in promotional interviews (TRT: 25:04).
Horses in silhouette at sunset. A “cowboy” lights up. Narration: “This is the story of a cigarette… and how a sort of faceless, sissified little brand became America’s fastest-growing cigarette” (0:08). Title: “The Marlboro Story” (0:43). Closeup on a smoking “feminine” package of Marlboro cigarettes circa 1954. Rack focus to reveal modern flip-top boxes of filtered “reds” (0:52). Advertising executive Leo Burnett smokes during an office interview, with multiple packs of Marlboros on his desk. He explains his original “cowboy” concept, a “masculine image” copied from a book (1:13). Burnett waxes nostalgic about advertising copy (3:55). An early ad with a “Marlboro man” (4:29). Title: “The Marlboro Man” over a plane landing on a runway in black and white. The pilot deplanes and opens a pack of Marlboros with a propeller-tattooed hand. A man on horseback does the same, also with a tattooed hand (5:24). Crossfade to color footage of cigarettes rolling off a production line. Cartons on a conveyor belt. A graph tracks skyrocketing sales from 1954 to 1956 (6:32). A portrait of musical jingle composer Don Tennant. A pen and paper pad on a piano. Montage of still piano playing photos. Slow zoom on a pianist. Sheet music for a Marlboro jingle, “You get a lot to like…” March and ballad versions are demonstrated over 50s ads. Montage of tattooed hands (7:01). A new slogan: “Where there’s a man… there’ a Marlboro” and climbing sales figures (9:19). Ross Millhiser, President of Philip Morris USA, holds a copy “Reader’s Digest” from July, 1957. An article: “The Facts Behind Filter-Tip Cigarettes” lists tar and nicotine measurements (10:01). Other Philip Morris brands are pictured: Parliament, Benson & Hedges, and Virginia Slims (11:40). Cigarettes are sold at cash registers and vending machines. The soft pack is introduced (12:03). A black and white animated cartoon commercial with radio announcer characters Harry and Juggernaut (voiced by Daws Butler) (12:36). New ads show a more relaxed, “settle back” approach. Singer Julie London sings a new tune and smokes a cigarette in a nightclub setting (13:37). Color advertisements of the early 1960s. Black and white “empty stadium” commercials featuring athletes Charlie Connery, John Arnett, Tom Harmon, Don Hudson,Frankie Albert, Paul Hornung. Hornung smokes and recalls his glory days (14:35). Jack Landry, Vice President of Philip Morris, speaks on “Marlboro masculinity” (15:29). “Cowboy” advertisements and the “Marlboro Country” slogan’s debut (16:45). A “Marlboro Country” campaign advert, and a montage of wordless color stills (17:35). Copycat ads, including a Campbell’s “Manhandlers” soup ad and a Cadbury “Bar 6” chocolate bar commercial, both playing on the Marlboro format (19:22). A “Marlboro man” cowboy hat and uniform hangs on a coat rack. Charted sales figures jump in the late 1960s, thanks in part to other Philip Morris cigarette brands (20:26). A 1969 “Marlboro Country” promo reel. A cattle drive set to the theme from “The Magnificent Seven.” A “cowboy” puts on boots, cooks a fried egg, and drinks coffee by a campfire. A Texas Longhorn steer and wild horses. Smoking ranchers ride into the sunset. The Philip Morris logo with the motto, “Veni vidi vici” (22:10).
According to the CDC, Cigarette smoking is responsible for over 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is approximately 1,300 deaths every day. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.
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[@davidfusco6600]

Marlboro was my brand. I started smoking at 15, mom and dad begged me to quit, but o really enjoyed smoking. I got my girlfriend to smoke too. When I turned 21, I finally did quit, so did my girl, cigarettes were 75 cents per pack. We’re married 41 years now, and neither of us went back to smoking. I’d hate to think of how poor our health would be after a lifetime of Marlboro’s.

[@melbrooks4875]

No one likes a quitter David.

[@charlesbaldo]

@@melbrooks4875 No one at the tobacco company

[@user-bz9ld2go3g]

Took my dad’s life

[@melbrooks4875]

@@user-bz9ld2go3g Dying is for quitters

[@charlesbaldo]

@@user-bz9ld2go3g My condolences, please let it not be in vain, allow no one in your family to smoke.

[@andrewsmactips]

It was McLaren formula 1 cars that introduced me to the Marlboro brand: "Hey, that pack of cigarettes looks just like the race car!" Smoke free two years and counting.

[@bjkarana]

Glad to hear it!

[@JordanOrlando]

26 years!

[@DAMN_ITS_GOT_SPOTS_ON_THE_TOP]

I've been smoking for nearly 30 years and am still struggling to quit altogether, but I've made a huge improvement.; I'm smoking much less and only buying a pack every 2 or 3 weeks, whereas 10 years ago I was smoking nearly three packs a day. I'll never give up in my endeavor to lay them down forever, though. I hate the damn things.

[@evanokeroa4877]

Adverts with their glossy picts

[@bjkarana]

@@DAMN_ITS_GOT_SPOTS_ON_THE_TOP Over summer breaks from college, I worked as a construction laborer with a machine operator named Butch. He had a 2 pack a day habit and one day he says he's quitting. At 7 am (start time) he's got the patch on and some nicotine gum. I notice by 11am, he's got two nicotine patches on, nicorette gum, AND is smoking a butt, and I was like "hey Butchie, uh, I don't think that's how any this works?" He just said to tell the paramedics he was smoking with the patch on and "they'd know what to do." At 21 years old, that was my anti-smoking lesson. Best of luck to you in your quitting. You CAN do it!

[@littleshopofelectrons4014]

My dad smoked 3 packs a day (Winstons) for about 40 years. He even got my mother to start smoking. It drove us kids crazy. He would wake up about 6:30 AM every day and immediately have a coughing attack for about 15 minutes. Of coarse by then he had already lit his first cigarette. Then he developed emphysema. He was on oxygen the last 10 years of his life. He died a horrible lingering death gasping for air. The tobacco companies have a lot of blood on their hands.

[@scothammond5736]

. I know guys who smoked well into there 80s and have lost two grandparents and and an aunt to cancer that never smoked a day in there life. Life is strange in that way and we all make choices. I highly doubt that there was ever a single farmer or tobacco executive that wished cancer or COPD on anyone.

[@RRaquello]

My parents, somehow, didn't smoke (oh, my father would have an occasional cigar, but wasn't a real habit), but my grandfather started smoking when he was about 8 years old and smoked for about 70 years. He didn't get cancer, but also died from emphysema. Who knows, if he didn't smoke, he might have lived to a hundred.

[@mane771000]

Dude, 3 packs a day, that's a lot. I think if he smoked at least 1 pack a day, he would live a much better life and die easier. Cigarettes certainly bad for your health, but if you just smoke less, then most of the problems just pass you. I never heard that somebody smoked 3 packs for a day.

[@MsNooneinparticular]

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like a truly horrific way to go. My mom smoked 3 packs a day during her pregnancy with me so I was a non-consensual smoker as a fetus. I have ADHD, autism and many other issues that my siblings don't (she stopped by the time she had them, thankfully). No way to know for certain that that was the cause, but studies show that cigarettes are the 2nd worst drug during pregnancy after alcohol so... yeah.

[@luchalerae7687]

@@mane771000 my thoughts exactly he has to be exaggerating

[@JohnDavis-yz9nq]

Back when this commercial was on TV a person did not have to ask to smoke in someone’s house. People smoked in grocery stores and movie theaters. Breathing secondhand smoke was a part of life.

[@RRaquello]

Heck, I used to go to a doctor who'd light up in the middle of a check up. Nobody thought anything of it.

[@babydriver8134]

lol Along with the exhaust from leaded gasoline.

[@Misha-dr9rh]

Ah the good ol days of lung cancer.

[@JohnDavis-yz9nq]

@@Misha-dr9rh actually of all of the people that I’ve know that smoked I only can remember one person that had lung cancer. If I was a smoker I would be more worried about heart disease that it causes than lung cancer.

[@nickryan4619]

@@JohnDavis-yz9nq no joke, my great grandmother smoked 2 packs of Marlboro reds a day and lived to be 98 and never had lung cancer. I smoked from 14 to 19 and got cancer when I was 27... strange world we live in.

[@adamchurvis1]

My father was a Creative Director at Leo Burnett and worked on the Marlboro campaign back in the late sixties and early seventies (he died of cancer in 1974), but mostly on others like Heinz's "Anticipation" campaign, which he dreamed up (and there's a very risque story about how that all came about), and a bunch of others like Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes, etc. Leo Burnett was a great man, and I use his slogan to this day: "When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get them, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either." I still have one of the ultra-rare hand-bound copies of his memoir stashed away. I used to go with my dad to his office occasionally on the weekends when he had to finish up sometime, and I'd sit in Bernie Nausbaum's office sketching and coloring with his dozens of professional markers and such. Bernie was one of the people who later testified regarding the whole Big Tobacco business before Congress (yes, they were even digging up the artists who worked on the campaigns). When I first saw the offices in "Mad Men," I exclaimed, "That's EXACTLY how it looked at Leo Burnett!" It was like the set design was by someone who actually worked at Leo Burnett back in the day. [End stream of consciousness]

[@fromthesidelines]

Thank you!

[@adamchurvis1]

UPDATE: It turns out that Jon Hamm's character, Don Draper, was patterned after Draper Daniels, who was the advertising genius who originated the Marlboro campaign and many others at Leo Burnett that my father later worked on, and whose replacement at Leo Burnett was my father's boss! And he lived only four miles from our house!

[@squali1930]

Thank you!!!!!

[@squali1930]

The Anticipation idea was genuis.

[@robertsherman9975]

I recently discovered while researching family genealogy. I’m related to Darrell Winfield. He was the Marlboro man from the 60s until 1980. My father was his cousin. I never met him personally. Although I did meet his Aunt Eva. Eva was a sister to Darrell’s father. I also lived within an hours drive of his aunt Ethel. She lived in Tillamook Oregon. The two aunts of Darrell’s were my my Grandmothers sister-in-laws.

[@hatuletoh]

I haven't smoked a cigarette in over a decade, but damn that advertising is effective. I'd kill for a Marlboro right about now.

[@kristopherbeer5422]

I'm sure your lungs are glad you quit!

[@dcrog69]

Hell I've never smoked and I'm wanting a Marlboro.

[@darinp5612]

probably shouldn't have clicked then... been 12 years for me and I don't want one.

[@icecreamforcrowhurst]

You kill for a Marlboro and the Marlboro kill you lol

[@darinp5612]

@@icecreamforcrowhurst addiction is in the mind. You can succumb or overcome.

[@jimmyp6443]

Power of suggestion ,don't listen what others tell you . High school early 1970's everybody smoked Marlboro.

[@johnsiders7819]

That’s what most smoked too. The blacks preferred Kools menthols I smoked unfiltered camels ! That kept the bumming of cigs really low!

[@deanpd3402]

In the sixties, my Mum would point at the cemetery and state, Marlboro country. I never did get interested in smoking.

[@babydriver8134]

When Camel Filters came on line, I switched.

[@babydriver8134]

@@johnsiders7819 Original Camels were/are in a class of their own, but the non-filters are sooo expensive.

[@PotterPossum1989]

That still applies today, don't listen to what others tell you.

[@gregsummerson6524]

The guy doing the interview with a lit cigarette, oh that takes me back

[@uski59]

I was a Marlboro man all my teen years. Took me 2 years to quit & I've been smoke-free 40 year now.....it was the box that got me...needed it's ruggedness to survive those teen years.

[@stuart8663]

An excellent documentary of the story behind the product. Fascinating marketing principles that fitted that period, and theres a lot to be learned that can be easily applied to almost any product. Love Elmer Bernstein's theme music. Lots of great memories there. I've never smoked anything except spare ribs. But I do appreciative a good business story. Thanks for uploading.

[@worddunlap]

Marlboro sent me a birthday and Christmas card every year but not a get well card when I got cancer.

[@darinp5612]

you knew the risk, you smoked, easy as that

[@1369buddy]

@@darinp5612 I said the same thing about Heroin & Crack

[@scothammond5736]

Yup oh well. It's been known since colonial times that smoking wasn't good is it somehow PMs fault that you made a bad choice? What about all the fluoride you've consumed in your life? Have you ever cried that your city failed to warn you about the poison they put in your water? Funny how you sheep only cry once the government tells you it's poison

[@User0000000000000004]

You are a liar.

[@fknlit7735]

They just sent me coupons

[@johnconner426]

I survived nuclear warfare and never started smoking.....until I saw this ad. I've just now lit my third "smoke" and will enjoy this for many years to come. Ingenuity and convenience in a small, travel size package. Clearly a product of free men. A true luxury for those who can afford.

[@ericfranchi1451]

good for you. no one lives forever.

[@troidesproject9631]

I was a smoker for 20 years, one pack for one day. Now I've quit smoking for 2 year and go on. It is good to stop smoking. You'll felt your sense of smell enhanced. No more headache in the morning. No more pain in the back and shoulder.

[@adamarguin9925]

I smoked for 20 years aswell. I was a Camel smoker for 3 of those years but eventually switched to Marlboro. But I have quit smoking cigarettes. I now smoke pipes. It's way better then cigarettes because you don't inhale. Im not saying pipe smoking doesn't have it's risks but it is substantially less deadly then cigarettes.

[@andyfoxy3140]

You should have kept smoking.....like a real man

[@Art7220]

And then there's the money saved. One of those Schick ads, the guy in it said he could've bought two of the homes he lived in back then. Late '70s, early '80s.

[@kennethjohnson6319]

I used to watch watched these Marlboro Man cigarette commercials in the sixties i never smoked in my life cigarette commercials were very creative and got the point across

[@Starphot]

Same here, never smoked. This in a time that men weren't ashamed of their masculinity. I grew up in the 1950's and '60's and most adults smoked, even on live TV. An early NASA flick (I think during the Gemini program) opened up with an empty ashtray with the emcee saying "At NASA, we solve problems". Later on in the flick, a problem arises and the ashtray was filling up with butts.

[@663rainmaker]

I was a Marlboro Man kid ! Wyoming History and Equality State USA 🇺🇸

[@manchuriancandybar864]

Marlboro man, Joe Camel, Kent. Those were the golden days of cigarette commercial jingles.

[@braiiarb]

@@Starphot "ashamed of their masculinity" hahahahahah. Get real, old man.

[@honuman39]

'This man smokes Marlboro cigarettes. What kind of a man is he?' An actor

[@darinp5612]

an actor isn't a "kind" of man... it's an occupation

[@honuman39]

@@darinp5612 missed the point

[@darinp5612]

@@honuman39 how? You made an incorrect statement.

[@honuman39]

@@darinp5612 Since we're playing grammar and syntax Nazi instead of recognizing that this is, in fact, a KZbin comments section and not a college level writing course, I'll point out that you failed to use a capital 'A' in 'an' when you wrote your initial response. Clean that up forthwith. I'll also point out that describing one's occupation can easily be used to provide an impression of a person but that the real meaning behind the comment was to undermine the false image portrayed and associated with smoking Marlboro cigarettes. Sufficiently explained? Now I need a shower.

[@darinp5612]

@@honuman39 this isn't a grammar lesson, you made an incorrect statement. Fess up. Since you also accused me of being a Nazi, you must be anti-semitic as well. Doesn't look well for you

[@wtxrailfan]

Brings back memories. I'm old enough to remember paying 35 cents a pack for Marlboros. This movie looks like it was created to be viewed at a Phillip Morris shareholders conference.

[@fromthesidelines]

*Exactly.*

[@garymckee8857]

I worked in a store in the early 80's and l remember everyone saying when they get to a dollar a pack I'm quitting.

[@21stcenturyfossil7]

Shareholders conference seems likely. Maybe as a moral booster for distributors and such. The industry knew tough times were coming.

[@fromthesidelines]

Today, it's *TEN* dollars a pack (and more)- yet people are still lighting up.

[@quadruple_negative]

It's getting on for $40 a pack down here in Australia and we don't even have the pretty colours on the packs anymore. I have no idea why anyone would take it up in this day and age.

[@VictorySpeedway]

Smoked 'em for 40 years. Quit in 2009. Probably shortened my life by a few years, but what the hell? I always ENJOYED smoking, but having pink lungs trumped lighting up a cigarette with first cup of coffee in the morning.

[@KutWrite]

Good for you! I know it's a very hard habit to break. After failing with patches and other gimmicks, my mom finally quit cold turkey about 8 years before she died. She was proud of that accomplishment. Her favorite aspect of it was how much better food tasted without the tobacco residue in her mouth.

[@pyrotechnick420]

Make sure the doctor checks your lungs every few years with a scan. I smoke for 15 years and quit 10 years ago. Just because you quit doesn't mean the damage to your lungs goes away. I had a cancer scare 5 years ago, 5 years after I stopped. Take care

[@steven2212]

Amazing...another world. Glad adults could be adults. Too bad cancer ended up killing most of them.

[@JohnA891]

that or the 200+ atmospheric nuclear test performed in the US, or the 800 underground, under sea and space tests that poisoned the water table, the air, and the food. Don't you find it odd that a habit that people had been addicted to for HUNDREDS of years, all of a sudden was the cause of cancers post 1944. I am not saying they are in any way good for you, but I always found it odd that smokes took the blame, while the government was lighting off nukes like kids with firecrackers.

[@steven2212]

@@JohnA891 I certainly see your point. Our govt has been killing us with various chemicals for years. Now they have China's help.

[@arcanondrum6543]

@@JohnA891 Do you find it "odd" that Nuclear fallout is picking on the smokers? My 8th Grade Science Teacher (great guy) did a comprehensive lesson on cigarettes that lasted weeks. He was a smoker, he didn't want us to smoke, few did. The chemicals he listed, used in "processing" cigarette tobacco sounded familiar when "Breaking Bad" hit television. Find out what they are, it might prompt you to quit.

[@JohnA891]

@@arcanondrum6543 Well aware, and I think I stated pretty clearly that smoking is bad for you. Let me make that extra clear, it is an awful addiction, it is horrible for your health, and no one should ever pick one up. That should keep your 8th grade teacher happy. All I pointed out was the US has nuked themselves hundreds of times more than they nuked Japan, but you rarely hear that mentioned as a potential cause of cancers. If someone cooked off a 196,500 Kiloton nuke in Nevada, you could expect some serious cancer issues, there and downwind. That number BTW, is the approximate total yield of the tests fired on US soil. For comparison the total dropped in both attacks against Japan was about 30 kt. Let that number sink in, well over 6000 times more yield. The fallout covered the entire country, polluting the air, the soil, the meat, the milk, the crops and the water. The tests ran for decades. Do yourself a favour, and check out the cancer rates over time. There is a funny spike in the mid 1940's, specifically for lung and bronchial cancers. That spike continues increasing right up until about 1990. The rates went from about 15 per 100,000 to almost 90 per 100,000. Funny thing though, there were 6 times more cases of Lung cancer per capita, but the smoking rate per capita didn't go up by 6 times, weird. Care to take a wild guess as to when the US started, and stopped nuclear testing? 1945 through to 1992.

[@arcanondrum6543]

@@JohnA891 I dislike radiation as much as or more than you or anyone. My point is that one evil is not replaced by another, both are evil.

[@jacobfuckingjones]

Insane Advertising. Glad this got posted, thanks man!

[@marcmywords6970]

5 years smoke free. I can never go back.

[@thomasdavis4253]

Too many folks try to judge the past with the lens of hindsight and the morals of modern times. It is interesting to simply look back at the past to understand it, maybe appreciate it, and hopefully learn from it.

[@fredlar9421]

Having a puffing or two outside the door in the early morning before my wife and kids getting up, with a cup of coffee in hand, and telling them the weather of the day after going back to the house, that's the most happy hours in my life. I quitted a few years ago. I'm missing the above moment any time, but I can't be happier that I quit it successfully.

[@MrWaalkman]

My dad and some of his Army and Air Force buddies bought Bob Morris's (the original "Marlboro man"), ranch over near Guffey, Colorado back in the 70's.

[@andrewgraves3529]

The guy explaining cigarettes in the first 2 minutes doesn't even take a drag.

[@threatassessment606]

The mystique of him though

[@TechMan042]

I just bite it, it's for the look, I don't light it - Will Smith

[@heinzg1591]

He knew

[@babydriver8134]

Because he knows better.

[@kiteracer]

Fun fact: that man was 35 years old at the time.

[@arcanondrum6543]

Even Cartoon Fred and Barney advertised Cigarettes - Winston. This video is a great lesson on how people can be successfully manipulated to hand over their Cash, *even when it harms them.*

[@Rutherford_Inchworm_III]

Just like paying taxes. Feeding the beast that's killing you.

[@arcanondrum6543]

@@Rutherford_Inchworm_III Stay off the public roads, sport.

[@Rutherford_Inchworm_III]

@@arcanondrum6543 I'd happily pay piecemeal for 100% of my services. So would many others. But that would result in entirely too much democratic choice for the average animal to handle. The difference between government and Marlboro is that smoking can only kill you with your consent.

[@arcanondrum6543]

@@Rutherford_Inchworm_III "piecemeal" You really haven't thought that through and through yet.

[@ErichH68]

I’m not endorsing smoking but along with terrible side effects it does have good ones as well. It picks up your energy and helps you think better.

[@RB-ib3mo]

I have this vision of after the interview for this video is over of the CEO floating back in to darkness with an evil laugh to the sounds of screams coming from his torture chamber.

[@georgemckenna462]

There is no screaming from Tracheostomy patients in the cancer ward.

[@dmrr7739]

Ross Millhiser was his name. And he didn’t stop with addicting men to cigarettes- there was the children to think about too: “Later, when the company was worried about young people dismissing Marlboro as their parents' brand, Mr. Millhiser came up with Marlboro Lights. ''The young people, they'll look at it and say, 'This is new,' '' Mr. Millhiser said in the Smithsonian oral history interview reported by The Washington Post in 1994.”

[@arcanondrum6543]

@@dmrr7739 Fred and Barney advertised Cigarettes, you can search for them here on KZbin. About 2 decades ago, children as young as 5 were surveyed and could identify Cartoon Joe Camel (and many more corporate logos) but could not identify some common animals and plants.

[@RRaquello]

Nah, that's Leo Burnett. He wasn't in the cigarette business. He ran an advertising firm. They'd develop advertising campaigns for anyone who hired them. In this case Marlboro. Besides the Marlboro Man they also came up with Tony the Tiger. What could be more healthy & wholesome than that?

[@Fifty8day]

Didn't the main Marlboro cowboy die from lung cancer.

[@stashyboy1]

Yep

[@dmrr7739]

Four of them did.

[@scothammond5736]

@@dmrr7739 names and obits? Or you're just repeating urban legend and the plot to a shitty movie

[@dmrr7739]

@@scothammond5736 Sorry little dude, here’s how you use Google: www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-marlboro-men-20140127-story.html “Today, the reality about the Marlboro Man is darker: At least four actors who have played him in ads have died of smoking-related diseases.” -“At least four Marlboro Men have died of smoking-related diseases,” _LA Times,_ BY MATT PEARCE JAN. 27, 2014 6:29 PM PT

[@pyeltd.5457]

all 4 died of Covid 3000 in 1977

[@Tnenamrep2]

It's equally as evil as it is genius. Most certainly a different time.

[@User0000000000000004]

Good thing companies aren't evil anymore.

[@kucftbueouy9902]

Oh no, these bastards are more powerful than ever.

[@OctavioJackson]

Mad Men is real

[@publicmail2]

Mostly all advertising is all lies along with media, some people have no clue.

[@RB-ib3mo]

Yep but as the saying goes "advertising works"! People are only too willing to spend spend spend if they find an ad appealing

[@rockets4kids]

These days even the people doing the advertising often have no clue.

[@mikeb4256]

Its all about robbing, raping, kidnapping, and pillaging - and don't let them tell you otherwise. Case in point = "A Cigarette is good company" Yeah, sure it is.

[@mikeb4256]

Another case in point from the leader at 10:10..... "Marlboro suffered some real growing pains in the past 15 years....agonizing periods...." Not nearly as agonizing as your customers who clung to life after having used your products. Like I said, robbing, raping, kidnapping, and killing - all in a days work for these folks.

[@JeffinTD]

A reminder that the era when a person would be proud of their great success in seducing people to smoke cigarettes was not that long ago.

[@darinp5612]

uhhh, now we do it to children in the form of cherry vape pens... which also gives popcorn lung

[@OLd_One-eyeguy]

Not long at all, heck they were even vending machines with them back in the 1900's. lol

[@wrightmf]

This is just before they banned cig ads from TV. I remember the Doral cigarette commercials where the cig is bouncing around with female voice "taste me, taste me!" I also remember some event with a standup comedian making fun of the Doral commercial "eat me, eat me!" and all the adults laughed but I didn't get it. It took a few more years till I finally understood why everyone laughed so hard.

[@fromthesidelines]

Cigarette advertising was banned from television and radio after January 1, 1971. However, print, magazine, and outdoor ads were (and still are) permitted- and Philip Morris continued to invest heavily in them [and foreign commercials in worldwide media]. Marlboro became the #1 brand in the world as a result.

[@r64g]

@@fromthesidelines This remained on TV overseas for decades afterwards.

[@RRaquello]

We used to have this neighbor lady who was kind of a noisy woman's lib type and she used to prove it by smoking Eve cigarettes. That was the "other" women's brand. Virginia Slims were more for the professional woman, like those who worked in offices, but Eve was for the hippie types, which our neighbor was. Even the commercials were psychedelic. You could tell all about a person by what brand of cigarettes they smoked.

[@michaelwascom62]

There used to be a brand of cigarettes called Picayune (named after the famous New Orleans newspaper. They were produced by Liggett and Myers. They were short and unfiltered, and advertised as Picayune "extra mild" cigarettes --- that was a baldface lie! I smoked Pall Mall non-filters off and on in the early 1970's. Contrary to the advertising slogan, they weren't all that outstanding, and certainly were not mild! I quit smoking altogether in 1975, and never missed it. But we're ALL going to die whether or not you smoke!

[@kellyhill430]

I found it unusual to show a man with a tatoo on the back of his hand in the 60s

[@thetreblerebel]

It was a propeller off an airplane he was probably military either navy or USAF

[@1369buddy]

Sailors and Convicts

[@dmrr7739]

One of them looked like a Wehrmacht tattoo.

[@kellyhill430]

@@dmrr7739 wouldnt that have just been great ??? The advert guy said that they wanted to convey that the marlboro man had a past....and then they release the photo and about a million people phone and write in. What a great social experiment that would have been. Hey lets see how many people we can offend with one photo. Then you open up next months nat geo magazine and 83 pages in ....there in a full page ad is THE MARLBORO MAN ....OPPPS!! Wait a minute Then you see it. A good looking blonde haired blue eyed smiling dude sitting there with all his buddies and it looks loke they just got done bashing baby seals skulls in and they are all enjoying a smoke and the main guy in the picture the blonde in the front and center has a big ass SS tattoo on the back of his hand.😀😀😀😂😂😂 . That little growth chart the guy showed would have had a straight vertical line plummiting downwards.

[@scothammond5736]

@@dmrr7739 considering the men in those adds were more likely than not WW2 Vets I doubt that's what was on his hand

[@Carjn325]

Julie London used to play nurse Dixi on Emergency in the 70’s I still love that show on MeTV.

[@byrd56]

Julie was married first to Jack Webb, then to musician-turned-actor Bobby Troup, who appeared alongside Julie as Dr. Early on "Emergency", which was produced by (wait for it) Jack Webb.

[@RRaquello]

To my father's generation, Julie London was "Theeee Most", LOL.

[@Pupda]

⁠​⁠@@byrd56 like Julie, Bobby was a musician first and actor second; his best known composition is probably “Route 66”.

[@jimmyj422]

Julie London died at 74 from smoking related causes.

[@Zeoytaccount]

Kent cigarettes, Marlboro’s competitor, used micronite for their filter-tips. Micronite is also known as “blue asbestos,” which is the most harmful variety of asbestos.

[@boostismagic]

That's fascinating, I looked it up, never would have known. How did YOU learn of that fact?

[@unclebugspayton]

I enjoyed watching this while smoking my Marlboro

[@garymckee8857]

I prefer American Spirit myself but a thumbs up too you.

[@JeffFrmJoisey]

Oh boy, does this send me on a "Transporter Room" excursion!!! Sang along to all the songs!!! Best Marlboro memory - when James Bond was on a horse, looking like a cowboy in Moonraker, to the Marlboro song, and the entire theater cheered because they missed the old TV commercials!! I smoked Boros or Lights for years and still have a bunch of 90's Marlboro Miles Merch in its original packaging buried in a closet somewhere!!! Definitely smoked (and drank) too much back then!!!! I'd buy 2 packs at a time and spend $5!!! One pack for the day, one pack for the OL.

[@WTSTF378]

Jersey Boy telling it like it is....and was. I was a bartender who smoked Camel Filters/then Lights but collected every Marlboro mile on the bar...how about those Swatch watches! Smoked 'REAL' Cigarettes for a while cause a guy gave us 'dozens' of those 5 cig sample packs to us college kids on our way to an NBA game in Atlanta

[@chrisa2735-h3z]

Damn Back when companies had their own music scores instead of copyright free music.

[@21stcenturyfossil7]

Marlboro's recycling Elmer Bernstein's Magnificent Seven theme helped kill the jingle.

[@frankdenardo8684]

@@21stcenturyfossil7 Philip Morris had to pay a royalty fee to the composer.

[@21stcenturyfossil7]

@@frankdenardo8684 Yes, PM paid a royalty because it wasn't their own music. Or Leo Burnett's either.

[@peterstromboli4835]

Nah, that's the score from "The Magnificent Seven," an old 1960's western.

[@frankdenardo8684]

@@peterstromboli4835 It was The Magnificent Seven theme. Philip Morris had to pay a royalty fee to Elmer Bernstein to use the music.

[@weissblitz88]

Like probably many others who lived they that era, I have that song burned in my brain, along with the National Geographic, Nova and Star Trek opening theme songs! They all call me to attention as soon as I hear just the first notes!

[@jimlakey8366]

To those commenters afflicted with the bias of presentism, have a smoke and relax...

[@billykuan]

I see hard alcohol advertising doing the same today, giving all the likes and none of the big problems.

[@realRainz]

the times when masculinity was celebrated, it wasn't toxic

[@iOnlyGotOneArm]

Only the product was. lol

[@dmrr7739]

Ha! It was LITERALLY toxic. One of the Marlboro men, Wayne McLaren, went to war against Philip Morris to undo some of the damage he had done before dying.

[@ChristopherMarshburn]

Really Jack Landry and the cowboys died of lung cancer.

[@nikolasfoto8403]

I've been smoking Marlboro Red for about 10 years now, great smoke!

[@gonavygreg5203]

He says "real men" like the rest are fake. I know this, my Grandfather had half his lungs removed. He STILL smoked.

[@darinp5612]

compared to man-bun, stick shift unknowing, mask wearing, travel hip pouch, blu-blocker wearing millennial idiots, they were

[@dmrr7739]

@@darinp5612 sure, guys who spent their days suckling on a tar teat because their TV set told them to are “real men.” Clever.

[@darinp5612]

@@dmrr7739 Well, as compared to a grown adult vaping away on a bubble gum flavored popcorn lung smoke pen, yes

[@elijahcason1]

@@darinp5612 ok boomer, just bc people don’t wanna walk around and smell like ashtrays, or have to wear a mask bc it’s the law where they live doesn’t make them any less of a “man” 😂 That’s the most barbaric thing I’ve ever heard. Proud millennial, my first car was a beat up 5-Speed S10 that believe it or not, I worked my ass off for. I started smoking cigs and then switched to a vape (non-bubblegum flavor) bc I couldn’t stand walking around smelling like the ass end of a cigarette that was just smoked constantly, my gf refused to kiss me due to the smell of it, and it was also easier to quit vaping IMO. I listen to Classic Rock and Country more than anything new today, like take it easy. Not every “millennial” is bad just like not every boomer is, but when y’all act like that it puts a bad taste in our mouth. Rn you sound like the pissed off old timers who complained when dudes started wearing their hair long in the 60s and 70s and wearing “weird” clothes and listening to “weird” music.

[@darinp5612]

@@elijahcason1 You're exactly right... one is a choice and the other is a tyrannical violation of basic rights. ok boomer? What is that? Fact is, history will repeat itself the more we try and bury it... vapes will become the next cigarettes and the next "health emergency" and masks are the beginning of the war on our rights... fight now against the medical tyranny and fear campaign or you'll be telling your kids about the time when you could talk to ppl without a diaper on. by the way, it never was a law in any state... mandates are not laws.

[@Madness832]

Yup, I smoked "Cowboy Killers" back in my youth!

[@rwf71]

Wondered when somebody was gonna call em cowboy killers, That's all we ever called them and I STILL smoked for forty years! Some cowboy killers & some others too over the years, Quit cold turkey in 2014. It's funny that when I was smoking the smell of a cigarette would make me crave one too. Now when I smell one it stinks so bad I wonder how in the hell did I ever put those stinking things right under my nose? lol !

[@dmrr7739]

@@rwf71 That’s fantastic, congratulations! My dad went cold turkey 45 years ago. It’s still one of the most amazing things I have seen someone accomplish. He’s still going!

[@rwf71]

@@dmrr7739 Thanks!

[@Misha-dr9rh]

@@dmrr7739 My dad tried to pick up vaping instead of cancer sticks. It seemed like he quit for a good few months until I found a pack of cigs in his car. Sad.

[@johnsiders7819]

There plant in louisville Kentucky was shut down 20 years ago was demolished now just a weedy concrete lot on Broadway in a very bad part of town no one wants to build on the land it’s just not safe around there any more brown and Williamson is gone too both were big employers in there time people just do not smoke like they used to in high school we all smoked Marlboro you just were not part of the crowd if you did not smoke .

[@jasonstinson1767]

My grandpa was leader in the pipe shop for lorrilard tobacco in Louisville. Never smoked. I hear his word ringing in my ears of I work there 40 years a month and 12 days and the plant superintendent said if he had it his way I wouldn't be going. Smiles

[@littleshopofelectrons4014]

A more realistic location for "Marlboro country" would be the cancer ward of the local hospital.The last "Marlboro Man" actually died of lung cancer. He regretted his role in promoting this poison.

[@JohnDavis-yz9nq]

If smoking had not killed him something else would have. Life in itself is a big ole pile of poison. Ain’t none of us going to make it out alive.

[@u.s.militia7682]

John Davis the last Marlboro man never smoked.

[@littleshopofelectrons4014]

@@JohnDavis-yz9nq Ridiculous "logic". Why speed up death with perfectly preventable behavior? There is also a small probability that you will survive a fall from a 5-story building. Why not try that several times a day since everyone dies of something?

[@JohnDavis-yz9nq]

@@littleshopofelectrons4014 I think I will let you jump out of the 5 story window first and see what happens to you. I know a man that smoked and he died at 92 and I know a man that didn’t smoke and he died at 89. Back when the Marlboro commercials were running smoking wasn’t bad for you. Actually cigarettes were safer back then than now. The tobacco paper has more flame retardant chemicals and the tobacco didn’t have the additives it does nowadays. I really don’t know many people that smoke nowadays. Growing up in the sixties breathing secondhand smoke was everyday life. I can’t remember the last time I smelled a cigarette.

[@littleshopofelectrons4014]

@@JohnDavis-yz9nq I'm certain that you are familiar with probability and statistics. This data has shown consistently since its been studied in the early 1960s that smoking greatly increases your risk of death. One person dying at 92 that smoked and one person that died at 89 that didn't smoke is called an anecdote. It is statistically meaningless. We all know people that died at every age imaginable that did and didn't smoke but until that data is combined in a meaningfully statistical way with large numbers of smokers and non-smokers, it doesn't prove anything. I'm 68 years old and grew up with people smoking. Cigarettes safer in the 1960s? Don't make me laugh. If you don't want to believe the scientific studies then one can also just invoke common sense if that is still in fashion. Does anyone think that inhaling hot smoking toxic chemicals for many years is harmless?

[@MickeyD2012]

I want a cigarette.

[@shumyinghon]

the Marlboro cowboy set the image of what America stood for in me back then as a kiddo,,, strong, free and confident..

[@threatassessment606]

So you still smoke right?

[@steviedepaoli2717]

Very good documentary, different world back then. One of the early Marlboro cowboys was a real cowboy by the name of C. B. Bradley.

[@clllaytrrron]

All it took was the innovative flip-top box and an ad campaign featuring the Marlboro Man and the sultry voice of Julie London... and Philip Morris sold 3 times as many Marlboro cigarettes each day of 1957 than they sold over the entire year of 1953. Wow!

[@blairparkay7132]

The story isn’t finished - there is, of course the bit at the end where all the Marlboro men cough their guts up and then die of lung cancer! I was born the same year as Marlboro and I’m proud to say that I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. I have, however, lost six members of my close family to smoking related diseases!

[@scothammond5736]

Most of the cowboys didn't smoke

[@oceanhome2023]

I have lived a long time and every woman that I have ever loved has been killed by Cigarettes !

[@PhaQ2]

I suggest you avoid women with ashtrays.

[@boostismagic]

If they smoke, they poke!

[@ericfranchi1451]

love em and leave em. ;)

[@KeepinYouUp07]

"Where's there's a man, there's a Marlboro" That's a good one lol.

[@elli003]

It worked for me for 43 years. Riding High in the Saddle ! Marlboro Man ! Marlboro Red in a Box. I quit smoking a few years ago, but I had a nice ride across the range .................. night club after night club ............... I can't remember their most of their names ?

[@johnfleming7879]

probably cant find cattle that respond like that anymore- they would look at you and wonder what all the fuss was

[@markdraper3469]

While it is true cigarette print ads continued here for some time after, television ads have been off the air longer than they were ever on including radio. There is no one under 50 who has seen a dedicated contemporary cigarette ad on American TV. I was of legal smoking age when they went off and was familiar with them all. Watching these ads didn't encourage me to smoke any more than the lack of them has encouraged me to stop. Smoking was so common and half my family smoked so I don't relate to the "seduction" often referred to. Selling point-wise, I see no difference between beer or cig ads and certainly I feel the same or worse about beer as others feel about smoking. It wasn't smoking that took 2 grandparents early (younger than I am now).

[@RRaquello]

I think smoking was caused more by peer pressure and a kind of "soft" sell, by viewers constantly seeing glamorous movie & TV stars smoking in movies & on TV. You smoked because your friends smoked. I think cigarette advertising was more aimed at people who already smoked, trying to get those smokers to switch brands. In this film when they talk about increased market share, most of that growth was getting smokers who smoke other brands to switch to Marlboro. In a way, they must have been cannibalizing their own customers, because before 1954, the Philip Morris brand (a non-filter cigarette) was one of the major cigarette brands in the country (sponsored "I Love Lucy" for instance), but by the late 50's it had practically disappeared. Other major brands suffering at this time were Old Gold and Lucky Strike. Marlboro must have stolen all their customers. Winston was also introduced in the 50's as a filter cigarette with the same effect.

[@milfordcivic6755]

The story of "How We Killed Our Customers"

[@BeryJensen]

Did you guys notice the tattoos on hands?

[@carlm8821]

Yes, very curious to know what that was all about. Looks like different branches of the services/armed forces.

[@fromthesidelines]

When Philip Morris started their "Marlboro Man" campaign in print- and on television- in 1955, all of the rugged "he-man" models sported a tattoo on the back of their hand. It made them look a little more "rugged", and reinforced the idea that Marlboro was a "man's" cigarette. MAD magazine, of course, parodied those early ads in their April 1956 issue [Kurtzman/Elder]: 2.bp.blogspot.com/coipJmXZ6weIAHbxSa67dcaEtbYqGbCtPJlG3PzAzuaDgQbpdnoOUzwMzgQEF2L61Dl503P21iXzFA=s1600

[@21stcenturyfossil7]

@@fromthesidelines , that MAD parody is hilarious!

[@fromthesidelines]

I knew you'd like it.

[@fromthesidelines]

Of course. Harvey Kurtzman knew how to puncture all forms of advertising.

[@donolbers9446]

Didn't Julie London's husband at the time, Jack Webb, die from lung cancer?

[@icecreamforcrowhurst]

Are you kidding? Smoking cut a vast trail of destruction in the 20th century. Almost everyone smoked back then and likely the majority of premature deaths were related the habit.

[@tobygoodguy4032]

"Everything we did seemed to spell mother." Don Draper couldn't have been more on point (Its toasted.).

[@bjdb]

This is Art.

[@mr.goodpliers6988]

Never ceases to amaze me how the same leaf got branded so many ways

[@manchuriancandybar864]

@Kenneth Johnson Marlboro man, Joe Camel, Kent. Those were the golden days of cigarette commercial jingles.

[@Sparky5]

Back when a smoke was a smoke and vaping was a gastric condition.

[@TheArmageddonCafe]

This was recommended by KZbin and I started smoking 🚬IMMEDIATELY for the first time ever!

[@jonmacdonald5345]

I prefer Real Tobacco leafs from the plant ,cured and smoked through a pipe!

[@SuV33358]

I was a light smoker long ago. Cigarettes ads never really affected me that much. Until losing someone very close to me from lung cancer, who smoked Marlboro for almost 50 yrs. Even after he lost half a lung he couldn't stop. Even with chantix. I just get mad now watching this. Hearing those jaunty happy little jingles makes me sick

[@stuartlisamartin2575]

Here is a history lesson for ya. If you ever wonder why so many people smoked.

[@Starphot]

I grew up in the 1950's and 1960's. Most adults did smoke, even on live TV. One of my sets of grandparents raised 7 kids during the Great Depression of the 1930's and had only one pack of cigarettes between them per month. They smoke on occasion such as after Sunday dinner. Later on they dropped the pack towards the end of the 1930's due to the kids getting older and tight finances. This before the new strain of tobacco came out with more nicotine on the market. WWII came about and the tobacco industry gave 3 cigarettes as part of a soldier's field ration. They were later paid by the US government for that as the government could not accept freebies. The non-smokers used his ration as money/ barter as these were more valuable than the military scrip that was issued in or near the military action.

[@Nitrous-ej5zy]

Yeah, I remember my mom smoking on a 747 headed to japan back in 1980.....ah memories......

[@JohnA891]

@@Nitrous-ej5zy People could smoke anywhere back then. As a kid in the early 70's I remember people smoking on public transportation, in movie theaters (even if screening kids movies), and one that still sticks with me, being sick as a kid and going to a University class with my mother, each desk in the lecture theater had an ashtray built into it, and they were very well used. Her Dr in the late 60's encouraged her to smoke through pregnancy, because it was important to stay calm and stress free, wouldn't want to hurt the unborn child.

[@Billccm]

Hard to believe there was a day when adults had a freedom of choice.

[@User0000000000000004]

Back when I chose your mom

[@soonermagic6196]

Now its sugar, food and drinks. Not much has changed. Everyone is obese. Its not as addictive as cigarettes but similar marketing with new technology these propaganda type movies aren't necessary anymore. And yes, we do need more freedom of choice.

[@thomasmatthew7759]

It only seems like "freedom of choice" until you see the billions spent convincing people to buy them. That's not freedom. It's coercion.

[@MsNooneinparticular]

Nobody's stopping you from smoking cigarettes. You could probably grow your own tobacco if you wanted, and now there's an endless variety of nicotine vapes to choose from as well. You just can't expose other non-consenting adults and children to your cancer-causing filth. As it should be.

[@uhlijohn]

We used to call Marlboros "dirt smokes" since we usually smoked menthol cigarettes like KOOL, Newport, and KOOL Lights. Marlies tasted like dirt to us!

[@joeadams1463]

Hmm, I Never Tired Dirt , I'll Try a Shovel Full For Lunch Tomorrow, & I'll Get Bk Wid Yah..

[@BELCAN57]

A very interesting study in marketing.

[@JimmyLoose]

They are literally telling the public how they brain washed them.

[@thebikehippie6562]

Not sure they expected us to see it

[@thomasdavis4253]

Companies still do, its all around. Vast parts of our culture are influenced either directly or indirectly from advertising.

[@JimmyLoose]

@@thomasdavis4253 Of course. But do they make a mini documentary about how they psychologically played the public? I think "Bike Hippie" above may be right, this film may have been highly classified for internal use only.

[@ThomasOutt]

The pursuit of the image of masculinity resulted in millions of people suffering needlessly to allow the tobacco companies free license to promote their death wish in their packaging. These cigarette boxes & packs were containers of suffering & death.

[@joshuagibson2520]

Liked Marlboro reds until right after the new millenuim when most states began mandating fire safe cigs. They never tasted the same after.

[@Fifty8day]

Pity most of their customers die from tobacco related diseases

[@joshuagibson2520]

Fun fact: soft pack cigs are just slightly longer than box ones.

[@Nitrous-ej5zy]

Yup.....

[@russelljohnson1303]

But you can't smoke all of a filter less cigarette.

[@dcrog69]

@@russelljohnson1303 You can if you save your butts😁

[@bartekmajewski2305]

If you drink ten liters of water every day, it will eventually be too much for your body. When buying a pack of cigarettes, there is no order to smoke it in a day. Marlboro can't help if people smoke a box or two a day and get sick after years of excessive use 🤠.

[@ltcajh]

"What kind of man is he?" Well, one who starts brush fires!

[@dmrr7739]

He’s a rugged kind of man who hocks up a pint of mucus before breakfast. He’s the man who’s earned his place on the lung transplant list.

[@Nitrous-ej5zy]

Smoking as I watch this.... So dirty, but so satisfying.....

[@MichaelJarrae]

Never wanted a cigarette so bad in my life.

[@Flatline74]

Even with COVID, when I am out and about driving I used to see everyone puffing on their vapes. I am starting to see cigarettes out number the Vapes again. Interesting.

[@stormworks4882]

" a cigarrette is good company " geez people really were gullible back then

[@benleon3405]

Do you have the same opinion on Alcohol commercials?

[@PotterPossum1989]

Have you been around many people? It's not exactly a false statement.

[@cvcoco]

It was a great campaign and helped propel Burnett to the top. Their vision and creativity really paid off and made PM rich, not to mention Burnett and myriad others in the chain. The words of PM, likely also written by Burnett or a PR division, was likely damage control for PM stockholders and the public. What was the problem? PM wasnt telling the truth, or lets say instead of the truth they doubled down on the lie, Don Draper style. In the period 1960-62, what was notable in american news affecting PM and others? It wasnt brand sales, it was the cancer scare which caused half the population to abruptly quit. Humans always smoked since plants were discovered that could be smoked so we can forgive PM and the others from Year Zero to 1962 because health was never an issue. But in that second PR speech in the video, PM had a choice and they chose the hurtful path. Why didnt they agree on the board to end cigs and use their brains to shift to healthier or new products that dont threaten health? They would have been pioneers and heros and Burnett could have led them. In the end, its profits and sales they all wanted, did they HAVE to come from tobacco? No, and thats whats wrong here. Why drag Don Draper into this by saying, "Damn the torpedoes, lets push the brands with even bigger campaigns!" It was totally unnecessary and caused PM countless lawsuits and problems all the way since. It was a fork in the road they missed and smokers suffered for it with death and destruction. All for nothing.

[@guysattley4098]

I agree with all that. My father, Cody Sattley, was an early Copywriter with Leo Burnett, starting in late 40s I guess. I remember being told as a kid that he was in the first 9 with Leo " at the beginning". I recall him working on Pure Oil, Green Giant, Mars, others. Certainly got all the free Marlboros he wanted... He was very ill in 1955, and finally died of MASSIVE lung cancer in Oct 1955, when I was in 8th grade. Etched into my memory is the sight of his "scar" which he was showing off to visitors from work, scar from middle of chest to middle of back. They sewed him back together and started 1950s version of radiation.....I'd love to know at this late date whether any of his fellow compatriots at Burnett thought of him as they churned out "wonderful" ads for the next 50 years. He died a painful death at age 54. I'm now age 79, in decent health. Thinking he could have had another 25 years, to write clever ads. Makes me mad as hell.

[@cvcoco]

@@guysattley4098 I like your comment very much although im sorry to learn the unhappy part about your father. I have connection to the ad industry and have stories. I think the earlier periods had to have been really interesting to work in. Think of all the copy and tag lines that survived for a very long time. While many positions were tedious and a grind, it was a glamor industry that shaped the country and society. People like your father would take credit for that.

[@scratchdog2216]

Original, unfiltered Camels still have the best taste. Concern over any brand image is for sheep.

[@joshuagibson2520]

Idk. I sure liked my Marlboro reds. When they became fire safe in the early 2000s they weren't the same.

[@johnsiders7819]

That’s what I smoked in high school kept the bumming of cigs way down !

[@jaik195701]

Camel was best

[@Spookieham]

I haven't smoked in over 10 years but if I did it would still be a Camel. I won't though as I don't want to die.

[@johnnycomelately5914]

Julie London died of lung cancer after chain smoking her entire life. I smoked Marlboro for years an it was these commercials that influenced me. I quit smoking 11 years ago but still enjoy the smell of second hand smoke.

[@KutWrite]

Funny that all they talked about was advertising. Nothing about the actual selection of tobacco, construction of the filter, etc. I guess advertising is what was really important to differentiate brands, after all. I checked & couldn't find a number for cigarettes sold last year. They measure things differently now, such as brand value, market cap, etc. I did find this: "Marlboro has been the world's No. 1 cigarette brand since 1972. Altria holds the rights to the Marlboro brand in the U.S., while Philip Morris International handles the brand overseas. Marlboro commanded 43.1% of the U.S. cigarette market in 2018, bigger than the next 10 brands combined." So despite the health questions, alternatives and legalization of grass, Marlboro is doing OK.

[@RRaquello]

Well then, most likely, the creation of the film was commissioned by Leo Burnett (the advertiser). If it had been Philip Morris (the cigarette manufacturer), they probably would have put the emphasis on the cigarettes & tobacco. This is probably a sales film for the Burnett Agency.

[@papadopp3870]

Smoking is insidious. I’d have sworn all the advertising had NO impact on me! To me the thing about Marlboro red is that they delivered. The best taste; the most nicotine in a filter; the most addictive! I remember people trying to switch to lights. They were back to reds in no time. Filter, flavor, pack or box. After quitting, I always planned that, in old age, if the doc gave me 30 days to live, I’d find a way to get a carton of reds! Euthanasia!

[@garrypalahitski3194]

Everybody laughed at me and said I was square because I didn’t smoke those days in the 60’s and 70’s. Now everyone who smoked those days wish they were “square”. I mean the ones that are still living…

[@andrewgraves3529]

Nothing like a wheezy cowboy, or a homemaker that ashes in the stew.

[@jimmyj422]

Julie London died at 74 from smoking related causes.

[@benleon3405]

And yet Alcohol commercials promoting happiness continue unabated...

[@jenniferpetti859]

Started with Salem. Then Marlboro lights for about 20 years. Before I quit I switched to Marlboro medium. I quit over 10 years. I will never smoke again. But I still miss smoking every day

[@MrDominickpal]

very educational about how advertising works. and scary.....

[@Thegeniuskidsuperb]

People are disgusting. How could they look at people dying from cancer from smoking and even having to get a trachea transplant from having throat cancer, and then saying “oh, that’s not a big deal. Let them do what they want” I’m a kid. That’s not necessary, so why would you scold us for telling you the truth? Us kids are still learning. People might look at me and say “hey kid, you can’t scold us for smoking. We do it because we are cool. You need to grow up” and I say “you may be older, but that doesn’t mean you’re smarter” You know the drill, us kids are smarter about health and other things than a lot of grownups believe they do

[@benjaminp8770]

I love this guy's stumbling, mumbly, slurring voice.

[@lxndrlbr]

How is nobody commenting on hand tattoos!?!? Was that common? Was that the primary place to get a tattoo? It seems it is absolutely forgotten today.

[@johnfleming7879]

I would think of that as a little bit gay

[@Starphot]

Tattoo parlors, usually in a seedy part of a town. Tattoos were popular with military servicemen. Smoking aboard my ship in 1972 was popular when the "Smoking lamp" was lit by announcement. Ashtrays made from the thick nylon protective shipping end caps of bombs with notches cut in the lip of these. Yet lung cancer causes was well known back then. We called cigarettes "coffin nails".

[@carlm8821]

@@johnfleming7879 Well, when you stop to consider men back then didn’t get full sleeves, and prison-style tats weren’t in yet...this was probably some sort of norm for men to get hand tattoos. And pretty sure it WASN’T a gay thing either.

[@chrischris3994]

@@carlm8821 I suspect that the marketers wanted to show that they are man's man types, veterans of a recent war (WWII? Korea?) - the pilot has props, the cowboy has crossed cannon or swords. The cowboy's may even have his unit number. If so, each qualifies as man's man in my book. Excuse me, gotta go, I have to cough up a lung or two.

[@21stcenturyfossil7]

@@carlm8821, while death from smoking related diseases was common for the Marlboro Men, at least one of them died in San Francisco of AIDS in the 1990s. I was around in the 60s and don't remember seeing hand tats outside of Marlboro commercials. They were weird and I expect they washed off with soap and water.

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

Neither one of my parents smoked cigarettes, but my maternal grandmother and grandfather smoked all the time!! My grandmother was partial to Pall Malls and smoked into her '70s when she finally quit for good (she died at 85). My grandfather really liked Lucky Strikes (unfiltered, of course) but stopped in his '60s and died at 85 as well. Glad I never was around all that smoke for long periods of time like my poor mother was growing up in a household of 2 heavy smokers (she's 87 now and still going strong), pretty dang nasty!

[@carljcreighton]

my favorite thing about not smoking is forgetting my heart is beating

[@scothammond5736]

I've smoked for 20 years haven't ever had a health issue, all through my 20s and into my mid 30s I ran at least 3 miles a day the only thing that stopped me was injuries incurred on the job. Idk what my resting heart beat was then but it can't be much higher now.

[@Roni53162]

I loved Marlboro Man ... I never started smoking but I learned to love Cowboys 😁