In 1954, Philip Morris had a cigarette nobody wanted.
It had been on the market for thirty years, targeted at women, complete with a red tip to hide lipstick stains and a tagline that read “Mild as May.” It was going nowhere.
So they hired Leo Burnett — one of the greatest advertising minds who ever lived — and he made a decision that would change the company forever. He didn’t change the cigarette. He changed the person smoking it.
Burnett created the Marlboro Man. Rugged. Silent. A cowboy. The most masculine image in American advertising history. Same tobacco, same filter, same everything. Different human. Marlboro became the best-selling cigarette in the world.
