The Hero of the "Legendary" Strategy That Saved Marlboro from Bankruptcy: Who is the Marlboro Man?
Behind Marlboro's success is an advertising strategy developed by Leo Burnett. The Marlboro brand, which has only 1% of the cigarette market in the USA, became the biggest cigarette seller in the country and the world, with sales increasing 10-fold by 1972 after its restructuring in 1955.
This successful performance of the brand in advertisements is achieved by including the charismatic cowboy symbol to create a tougher and more masculine perception. A masculine cigarette brand is created with promotional content designed by an advertising agency founded by Leo Burnett, with the influence of macho figures and wild nature.
The Marlboro Man is a figure that was used in tobacco advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. The images initially featured rugged men portrayed in a variety of roles but later primarily featured a rugged cowboy or cowboys in picturesque wild terrain. The ads were originally conceived as a way to popularize filtered cigarettes, which at the time were considered feminine.
Marlboro, which was a brand consumed mainly by women before 1954, in this way, changed its brand from being a cigarette consumed by women and greatly increased its sales worldwide by encouraging men to use it. Marlboro Man has a huge impact on this success.
Five men who appeared in Marlboro-related advertisements — Wayne McLaren, David McLean, Dick Hammer, Eric Lawson and Jerome Edward Jackson, aka Tobin Jackson — died of smoking-related diseases, thus earning Marlboro cigarettes, specifically Marlboro Reds, the nickname "cowboy killers".
The most well-known face of the Marlboro Man is actor Eric Lawson, known as the 'smoking cowboy'.
Eric Lawson, who starred in advertisements for Marlboro, the cigarette brand of US-based cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, between 1978 and 1981, died at the age of 72 due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This was the third death due to smoking, after David Millar and David McLean, other Marlboro Man actors who starred in the company's commercials. Millar died of emphysema in 1987, and McLean died of lung cancer in 1995.
He took part in famous TV series
Lawson starred in the company's commercials as the 'Marlboro Man' and became an icon. The actor, who also starred in productions such as Charlie's Angels, Dynasty, and Baywatch, took part in anti-smoking campaigns in the last years of his life. According to his wife, Susan Lawson, the actor who died in his home had been smoking since he was 14 years old. After his wife's death, Lawson said, "He knew the effect smoking had on him. "Still, he couldn't stop drinking," he said. Lawson was the father of six children.