The marketing industry specializes in communicating a certain product to a specific audience in order to encourage its sales. Philip Morris, the owner and manufacturer of Marlboro cigarettes, makes his company successful through effective advertising. By promoting Marlboro as both an ideal product for the “common men” of America, and for the health-conscious devotees of a featured high-profile athlete, Philip Morris uses contradicting advertising methods and rhetorical strategies to popularize Marlboro among both social statuses.
In 1962, Marlboro released an advertisement featuring Paul Hornung, a former professional American football player and hall of fame running back for the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. At the time, he was widely known as “The Golden Boy” and was venerated for playing on teams that won four NFL titles and the first super bowl. Not only were the teams he played for highly ranked, but Hornung himself was awarded the Heisman Trophy for being an outstanding college football player (“Paul Hornung”). Hornung held plenty more titles that unmistakably made him one of the most prosperous players in the twentieth century. The association of Hornung’s successful identity with Marlboro provided its’ customers with the notion that this company was credible. The advertisement deemed Hornung “a Marlboro man all the way,” which presented Marlboro as the company a high-profile athlete would choose.
Not only did Marlboro choose the right figure to build credibility; it also took advantage of the prevalence of smoking at the time. Smoking had become such a large epidemic around the 1950’s that reports of an increase in smoking was on the front page of news stories across the United States (Cummings, 2014). This dramatic increase in cigarette smoking was just the Kairos that Marlboro needed to effectively advertise their product. The significant increase in the number of customers, during a time when cigarettes were being vilified, gave them the opportunity to publicize their product as better for general health.
As research on the negative impacts of nicotine were published, Marlboro reassured their customers that they were choosing the brand that was healthier than others. In the advertisement featuring Hornung, Marlboro is said to be a “filtered cigarette with the unfiltered taste” (Marlboro, 1962). The company offers its’ costumers the experience of a real cigarette without the guilt they would feel if they opted for an unfiltered brand. This makes the customers feel as though they are choosing a brand that delivers what they need, without the negative consequences that other unfiltered brands would give them.
Physical health is an important factor to consider in order to be successful in a high contact sport such as football. With all of Hornung’s victories, his fans knew that he prioritized his health and would only choose products that was best for his health. The advertisement subconsciously tells its customers that Marlboro’s filtered cigarettes were the healthier option for them because an athlete chooses this brand.
Additionally, in Hornung’s biography, he claimed that the “game [was] more mental than physical”. He continued to say that “it’s the guys who are right mentally who come out on top.” (“Paul Hornung“). This emphasizes the power of relaxation that Marlboro provides, so that its users can “settle back and have a full-flavored smoke” (Marlboro, 1962). Marlboro comes off as the product people need to be mentally “right”.
Philip Morris widened the range of his customers by releasing advertisements that targeted the “common men” of the United States at the time. As Andrew Jackson took his position as president in the 19th century, the recognition of “common men” was on the rise. Jackson’s efforts to allow the less wealthy, white males to gain access to voting gave momentum to the ‘common man” narrative. These were men who were not affluential and those who resorted to supporting their families by working on farms. In the 1950’s, there were approximately 5,388,000 farms recorded in the United States; which supported over 25,058,000 farmers (Mitsuoka, 2014). Philip Morris took on this narrative and designed Marlboro’s advertisements to target the “common men” at the time.
In 1956, Marlboro released an advertisement featuring an unnamed Marlboro Man to sell its filtered cigarettes (Marlboro, 1956). The company created a plain folk appeal by using an unknown white male, holding a garden hoe. This image, which was relatable to the common men at the time, showed that Marlboro was not just for high class athletes, but also for the average male working on the farm. The Marlboro Man was an effective ad icon and a trademark that targeted common men and made Marlboro one of the bestselling cigarette companies in the world.
Initially, Marlboro was viewed as a product targeted towards women. However, it quickly broadened its appeal to men as well. The use of Marlboro men caused sales to jump 3,241% just over a few years (“The Marlboro Man”, 1999). Not only did more men start buying the cigarettes; they began relating to the identity of the Marlboro Man. The recognition of the “common men” of America presented the Kairos for Marlboro to rebrand their cigarettes and popularize them. The advertisement masculinizes the company by referring to it as having “the man-size flavor of honest tobacco” (“The Marlboro Man”, 1999).
The difference in the use of colors is also notable in both of the advertisements. Hornung’s advertisement had vibrant colors that matched the cigarette box, whereas, the Marlboro man is depicted as colorless. This speaks to the lifestyle differences between these men and those who related to each separately. Hornung’s colorful poster highlights the lavish life he has earned through his success. On the other hand, the black and white picture of the farmer emphasizes how he is a man who is living a simple life like the majority of Americans. These distinctions in each poster allows Marlboro’s customers to feel a connection to the product and to establish loyalty to the brand.
Although these advertisements differ, the end goal is to sell the same product. Philip Morris strategically advertises the same product to two different social classes just by making slight adjustments to the posters. Through the use of rhetorical strategies and Kairos, Marlboro finds success through it advertisements.
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(Marlboro, 1956)
(Marlboro, 1962)
Work Cited
Cummings, Michael. “The Changing Public Image of Smoking in the United States: 1964– 2014.” Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers, doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-13-0798.
Marlboro. “1956 Ad Marlboro Man Smoking Long Cigarette Garden Hoe Flip Top Box Tobacco.” 1956, www.periodpaper.com/products/1956-ad-marlboro-man-smoking- long-cigarette-garden-hoe-flip-top-box-tobacco-103616-sep5-093.
Marlboro. “1962 Marlboro Cigarettes Ad.” Granger, 1962, www.granger.com/results.asp? image=0043463&stockindexonline.com=1&screenwidth=1024.
Mitsuoka, Yasuko. “Historical Timeline – Farmers & the Land.” Agriculture in the Classroom, 2014, www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/farmers_land.htm.
“Paul Hornung.” Pro Football Hall of Fame,
www.profootballhof.com/players/paul hornung/.
“The Marlboro Man.” Ad Age, 29 Mar. 1999, adage.com/article/special-report-the- advertising-century/marlboro-man/140170/.