Small History of Organizations Marlboro

How Marlboro Brand changed its sex?

Marlboro is a brand of cigarette famous for its flavor, billboard
advertisements and magazine advertisements of the Marlboro Man.
By 1992, Financial World ranked Marlboro the orld!s "o. 1 most
valuable brand, ith a market orth of #$2 billion. %n 2&&1 it as
the most 'o'ular cigarette brand in the (.).
Marlboro smoker, now personified by the rugged
cowboys who puff on cigarettes was once meant for
woman. Marlboro Brand was born in 1924 as one of the first
women's cigarettes. uring that time, the idea of marketing
cigarettes to women was a taboo. !d"ertisers had to
address the issue of stained teeth, foul breath, and
addicti"e cra"ings, not to mention that dry, hea"ing
morning cough. #hilip Morris decided that their brand
needed to ha"e a classy, sophisticated name. $inston
%hurchill was in the news at the time, and it was being
reported that he was related to the &arl of Marlborough.
#hilip Morris marketers liked the sound of the Marlborough
name, but didn't think it looked good on the pack. 'hey
lopped off the (ugh( and came up with Marlboro. )n the
192*s, the Marlboro campaign was based on how the
cigarette was different. 'hey painted a red band around the
Prepared for classroom discussion for students of MBA by Prof.K.Prabhakar !irector KS" #ollege
of $echnology $iruchengodu%&'()*+
filter to hide those unattracti"e lipstick stains, calling them
(Beauty Tips to Keep the Paper from Your Lips.( 'hey
called Marlboro the (Mild as May( cigarette for women and
added a tag line +(iscerning feminine taste is now
confirming the ,udgment of masculine connoisseurs in
e-pressing unanimous preference for the !ristocrat of
%igarettes. . . .( 'he brand had a small share to sur"i"e.
!fter 'wo decades, #hilip Morris decided to (reposition(
the brand due to low "olume of sales.
)n the early 19.*s, scientists published a ma,or, well+
publici/ed study linking smoking to lung cancer. 'his
publication had a great publicity impact. )n 19.0, for the
first time, cigarette consumption slowed in the 1nited
2tates. uring the same era 3eader's igest maga/ine
published a series of articles that linked smoking with lung
cancer.
'he cigarette companies mo"ed fast. 'hey pursued an
offensi"e strategy4 claiming that the studies were
(inconclusi"e( on cigarette safety while implying that their
brands were (safer( than those other, more dangerous,
brands. 'he brands that were lost their market share were
nonfilter brands.
Small History of Organizations Marlboro
5ilter cigarettes were percei"ed by smokers as safer, but
up to that point of time filter cigarettes had been marketed
to only women. Many men now wanted a filtered brand,
thinking that it will be safer, but were afraid they were
afraid that smoking women6 brand in public will show them
in poor light, if they switched to a woman6s brand.
%igarette manufacturers are not in fa"our of filter
cigarettes to men, as it may percei"ed to reinforce the
image that cigarettes induce the bad effects of cigarettes,
filters implied that smoke was unpleasant or dangerous.
7owe"er, they are dri"en by profits. 5iltered cigarettes
were more profitable because the filter material was
cheaper than a comparable amount of tobacco. Besides,
filters screened out some of the smoke's harshness, which
meant they could get by with a cheaper grade of tobacco.
#hilip Morris decided to gi"e Marlboro repositioning. 'he
company hired %hicago ad"ertising e-ecuti"e 8eo Burnett to
design the strategy. Burnett created ad"ertising characters
Prepared for classroom discussion for students of MBA by Prof.K.Prabhakar !irector KS" #ollege
of $echnology $iruchengodu%&'()*+
like the 9olly :reen :iant, the ;eebler &l"es, and the lonely
Maytag 3epairman, %harlie the 'una, #oppin' 5resh, and
Morris the %at. $hen he thought about repositioning
Marlboros, he decided to use a series of the manliest
images he could think of. 7e intended to present a series of
ship captains, weight lifters, ad"enturers, war
correspondents, construction workers, Marines, and the like.
'he cowboy was his first image of the series. #hilip Morris
had his reser"ations. )t hired a research company. 'he
research agency reported that there were only three
thousand cowboys in the entire 1nited 2tates at that time.
'he research report said the men in town will not identify
with cowboys. Burnett con"inced the company to try the
cowboy image. 'he campaign worked. )n one year, Marlboro
brand share increased from marginal presence, to the
fourth bestselling brand.
Burnett's first set of cowboys were professional models,
some of whom had ne"er been on a horse before. 'hat led
Small History of Organizations Marlboro
to a series of embarrassing problems. 5or e-ample, an early
ad"ertisement showed a cowboy's legs in close+up4 7is blue
,eans were well+worn, his hand+tooled boots were scuffed in
all the right places, but his spurs were upside+down. !fter
that, the agency started recruiting real cowboys from places
like 'e-as and Montana for their ads.
)n 19.., the agency added a trademark tattoo to their
cow boy's hand. <ne model obser"ed after a photo shoot
that they had spent three minutes making up his face+and
three hours painting the tattoo. )n 19=2, Burnett's agency
bought the rights to *he Magnificent )even theme and
added words to it for their '> ads ?(%ome to where the
fla"or is . . . %ome to Marlboro %ountry(@.
2ince then, the Marlboro Man has been among the most
successful campaigns e"er, keeping the cigarette at or near
the top of mind recall for years. $hen cigarette ads were
banned in 19A1, the cowboy made a smooth transition to
print and billboards since he ne"er said anything anyway.
7e continued sBuinting off into the distance with that self+
absorbed e-pression. &"eryone seems to lo"e the cowboy.
Prepared for classroom discussion for students of MBA by Prof.K.Prabhakar !irector KS" #ollege
of $echnology $iruchengodu%&'()*+
)n 5rance, #hilip Morris sued an antismoking group that
used a cowboy model to deli"er an antismoking message,
claiming trademark infringement. #hilip Morris won a small
"ictory+a ,udgment of 1 franc instead of the C0 million he
asked for, 7owe"er the ad"ertisements were off the print.
'he real cowboy models, meanwhile, ha"e periodically
embarrassed the company by dying from smoking+related
diseases like lung cancer, emphysema, and strokes.
David McLean, who appeared in many Marlboro tele"ision
and print ad"ertisements starting in the early 19=*s, also
died of cancer at age A0 on 12 <ctober 199.. Mc8ean
starred in the short+li"ed 19=* tele"ision $estern *ate, and
he played roles in numerous tele"ision series and feature
films during the 19=*s and 19A*s. Mc8ean took up smoking
at age 12, began to suffer from emphysema in 19D., and
had a cancerous tumor remo"ed from his right lung in 1990.
espite the surgery, the cancer remained and spread to his
brain and spine, and Mc8ean succumbed in 199.. )n !ugust
199= Mc8ean's widow and son filed a wrongful death lawsuit
against #hilip Morris, )nc., claiming that Mc8ean was unable
Small History of Organizations Marlboro
to stop smoking because of his nicotine addiction, and that
his smoking habit was the cause of his lung cancer.
'he lawsuit contended, among other issues, that
Mc8ean had been obligated to smoke up to fi"e packs per
take in order to get the right look while posing for
ad"ertisements, and that he recei"ed cartons of Marlboro
cigarettes as gifts from #hilip Morris. !t last report ?in 1999@
the lawsuit was still pending, ha"ing outlasted all attempts
by defendant #hilip Morris to ha"e it dismissed.
'he small history brings out some important issues relating
to management.
1@ Marketing
i@ 2tudy the ad"ertisement and posture of the cowboy.
$hat kind of imagery you find in the adE $hat he tries to
communicateE 7e looks not into your eyes but into distant
lands.
ii@ 7ow Fcogniti"e dissonanceG, is managed in this case
when 3eader6s igest articles appeared in the news
regarding carcinogenic character of cigarette smokingE
ii@ )f you consider the image of Marlboro what kind of
Prepared for classroom discussion for students of MBA by Prof.K.Prabhakar !irector KS" #ollege
of $echnology $iruchengodu%&'()*+
characteristics the brand hasE Male or female, what
physical characteristicsE
2@ Ethical Issues4 )s it right to mislead people to belie"e
that smoking pro"ides M!%7< )mage for menE #lease see
the ad"ertisement gi"en in the reference. %hildren asking
their parents to smoke the brand . )s it ethicalE
0@ 'he brand "alue is 02 billion C built on misery of
thousands of people+ do you agreeE
3eferences
www.courses.rochester.eduHfosterH!I'22=H2pring*1Hhisto
ry.htmlt http4HHwww.tobacco.org
#lease go to the links to ha"e a good understanding of
the case.
Small History of Organizations Marlboro
Prepared for classroom discussion for students of MBA by Prof.K.Prabhakar !irector KS" #ollege
of $echnology $iruchengodu%&'()*+