Marlboro Man
The Marlboro Man is a figure 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 advertisements were originally conceived as a way to popularize filtered cigarettes, which at the time were considered feminine.
Tobacco (Last Week Tonight)
"Tobacco", an eighteen-minute segment about the tobacco industry, was delivered by John Oliver on February 15, 2015, during the second episode of "Last Week Tonight" second season. Oliver introduces the topic of tobacco smoking by showing video clips of "trusted newsmen, cartoon characters, and cowboys in TV commercials" who are smoking cigarettes. He says that the cowboy in the clip is Marlboro Man, a figure used in advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes, and notes that four of the actors portraying Marlboro Man have died from lung cancer or smoking-related illnesses. Oliver says that cigarette smoking is no longer as prevalent in the United States because of, among other things, mandatory warnings on all cigarette boxes and a ban on TV advertisements for cigarettes. The comedian says that tobacco executives adamantly refused to acknowledge the potential drawbacks to smoking, despite strong evidence to prove these drawbacks. He shows a video of Joseph Cullman, the former CEO of the tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI), saying that "some women would prefer having smaller babies" in response to a reporter's comment that pregnant women who smoke will give birth to smaller babies as a result. Even so, the restrictions on smoking advertisements contributed to a decline in smoking rates among American adults, as only 18% of adults smoked in 2014, compared to 43% of adults in 1965.