Imaginary Icons And Then Some

[windsong]

Imaginary Icons And Then Some

In today's Daily Express I came across an article about "imaginary icons" as listed out in a book called "The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived".

Topping the list was the infamous Marlboro Man - that rugged, tough-as-nails cowboy who constantly had a ciggie hanging out of his mouth at every possible occassion. You know, that whole bit about smoking being cool and how every young lad wanted to grow up to be that manly man.

This was of course waaaay before Brokeback Mountain came out.

But I digress - so yep the Marlboro Man came out (pun unintended) tops on this list which also included Santa Claus, King Arthur, Paul Bunyan and the Loch Ness Monster who is affectionately known as Nessie.

Did you guys know that Marlboro was originally marketed as a ladies cigarette? It's true (according to Wikipedia. If you don't believe me read this). Marlboro is a brand of cigarette made by Altria. It is famous for its billboard advertisements and magazine ads of the Marlboro Man. In 2001 it was the most popular cigarette brand in the U.S.[1] It is currently the best selling cigarette brand in the world.

Philip Morris, a London-based cigarette manufacturer, created a New York subsidiary in 1902 to sell several of its cigarette brands, including Marlboro. By 1924 they were advertising Marlboro as a woman's cigarette based on the slogan "Mild As May".

The brand was sold in this capacity until World War II when the brand faltered and was temporarily removed from the market. At the end of the war, three brands: Camel, Lucky Strike, and Chesterfield surfaced and established a firm hold on the cigarette market. However, the 1950s saw an impressive comeback of Marlboro cigarettes when a new cowboy image was introduced in promotion and the sales skyrocketed by 5000%.

During the same era Reader's Digest magazine published a series of articles that linked smoking with lung cancer. Philip Morris, and the other cigarette companies took notice and each began to market filtered cigarettes. The new Marlboro with a filtered tip was launched in 1955.

The brand is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London factory.

I'll never look at a pack of Marlboro's in quite the same way again.