Marlboro Man
The use of the Marlboro Man campaign had very significant and immediate effects on sales. In 1955, when the Marlboro Man campaign was started, sales were at $5 billion. By 1957, sales were at $20 billion, representing a 300% increase within two years. Philip Morris easily overcame growing health concerns through the Marlboro Man campaign, highlighting the success as well as the tobacco industry’s strong ability to use mass marketing to influence the public.
Man Laws
The ads featured the "Men of the Square Table", which consisted of men of great significance in different fields, such as football star Jerome Bettis, pro wrestler Triple H, actor/comedian Eddie Griffin, adventurer Aron Ralston, professional bull-rider Ty Murray, and actor Burt Reynolds, who acts as the Square Table's "de facto" leader. The ads would consist of the men bringing up a certain topic or situation, from simple beer-related topics, such as whether anything other than beer be stored in the garage fridge, or if one can take leftover beers that he brought to a party back home. Other topics would be slightly more serious, such as how long one can wait before asking out his best friend's ex-girlfriend, or if it's time to retire the "high-five" celebration. After a short discussion on the topic, the men will come to a consensus on a new Man Law, at which point the men raise their beer bottles (or sometimes cans) and proclaim, "Man Law!", at which point the Square Table's elderly scribe would write the new Man Law down. The Miller Brewing Co. unveiled a new football-related advertising campaign to effectively replace the Man Law ads starting the week of September 2, 2007, to coincide with the start of the 2007 NFL Regular Season. The series is called More Taste League (MTL) and these ads consist of actor John C. McGinley portraying The Commish of beer to protect Miller Lite's status as the beer of choice. Miller had signed a new agency to handle their TV and radio ads, with the first ones to be unveiled during that time.