The Marlboro Man- A Timeless Representation Of Masculinity
One of the most iconic images in relation to masculinity has been the Cowboy. Images of them riding across the “wild west” shooting their revolvers, chasing down wild horses, and wrangling cattle have been dramatized throughout American film, print, and literature, so in the 1950’s, when Marlboro Cigarettes, was trying to make a comeback and rebrand their tobacco cigarettes, they chose an iconic image of the “American Cowboy” (rebranded to be recognized as the “The Marlboro Man”) to be the focus of their new advertising campaign (West, Marlboro Man). Before the days of the Marlboro Man, Philip Morris Int., which owned Marlboro, had originally introduced Marlboro cigarettes as a delicate woman’s cigarette. In 1924, the cigarette was advertised with the slogan, “Mild as May”, inspired by the face of the campaign, Mae West (an American entertainer, socialite, and sex symbol) (West, Marlboro Man). Throughout the 1920s Marlboro cigarettes were marketed almost solely by upper-class women, who were apart of high-society. In the 1930s Marlboro made attempts to revamp itself by changing the ivory tip to red to ensure that woman's lipstick would not be ruined while puffing on their Marlboros (West, Marlboro Man). Unfortunately, the changing of the color scheme couldn’t keep Marlboros in demand, and they were taken off the shelves. Just twenty years later Marlboro was reintroduced to the American public, but this time around they were geared toward working-class men (West, Marlboro Man).
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The original Marlboro advertisements and marketing campaigns, were exclusively geared to appeal to femininity, which targeted the nearly polar opposite consumer as to that of the Marlboro Man; whose intended audience and consumer was recognized as a rugged, tough, blue-collar, macho-man. That came to be represented by the “Marlboro Man”. The first images of the Marlboro Man were introduced by Leo Burnett in 1955, nearly 20 years after their production had been stopped. The newly re-branded face of Marlboro wore a felt cowboy hat, stern look, and had a silent-mysterious quality. The new face of Marlboro was an overnight success story. Marlboro Cigarettes used the old-timey, iconic, western images from 1950-1990s. Marlboro Cigarettes as a “rugged” men's cigarette. Changing the slogan from “mild as may” to “Marlboro country- come to where the flavor is” and being rebranded to fit the new mold of a Marlboro smoker. The ideal Marlboro consumer should be portrayed as “a lean, relaxed outdoorsman--a cattle rancher, a Navy officer, a flyer--whose tattooed wrist suggested a romantic past, a man who had once worked with his hands, who knew the score, who merited respect," (West, Marlboro Man).
In the early 1950s, Philip Morris Int. decided that their once-popular cigarette needed a facelift, and set thus the company set out to find a new image, to better represent the brands' new targeted audience. The inspiration for Marlboros new marketing campaign was inspired by a photo essay that was showcased in Life Magazine. The photo essay was shot by Leonard McCombe, and it was published on September 12th, 1949 (Hamilton, 2018). McCombe's photographs were showcased in Life magazine and were meant to capture the dying world of the true “Western- American Cowboy” and the lifestyle of cattle ranching (Hamilton, 2018). The man pictured in the original photographs was Clarence Hailey Long, a 39-year-old rancher living in Texas (Hamilton, 2018), but shortly after the photographs were published he became the first face of the “Marlboro Man,” campaign.
The images depicted a hard working man living a traditional western way of life, that mirrored the pre-existing Hollywood ideals of an American 'cowboy'. One whose tough, demanding, and rural lifestyle was the mirror opposite of the typical mid-20th-century lifestyle, that most Americans were accustomed to during the time of the campaign launch. These images managed to transform a once feminine focused ad campaign, into a solely masculine one, and in a matter of months, Marlboro had a whole new image. In 1955, when the Marlboro Man campaign was started, sales were at $5 billion, and by 1957, sales were at $20 billion, representing a nearly unheard of 300% increase in just a short two-year time frame (Shirk, 2015).
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Using semiotic analysis, to analyze the icon images of the Marlboro Man, we begin to see the subtle subconscious effect that this advertisement campaign had, and why it was so successful. When using Saussure's emphasis on arbitrariness, we are able to understand how when people viewed the campaign ads or commercials, showcasing the Marlboro Man, they were subconsciously interpreting the message based on their own pre-existing understandings of the American cowboy (Chandler, P.231). Saussure claimed that a sign was composed of a signifier or the form the sign takes, and the signified is what the sign itself represents- or the unspoken hidden meaning (Chandler, P.231). The image of Marlboro Man is the sign, and when viewed by the consumer, our pre-existing understandings of what a cowboy is and what the western lifestyle entails, validates the claims made by Marlboro, that Marlboro Cigarettes are in fact, a cigarette meant for the hard-working man.
We can apply Saussure's Model to the video linked below, to truly see the powerful use of semiotics. The 1996 commercial was only aired in Mexico and stars Chuck Morris, one of the last faces of the “Marlboro Man”, used in Marlboro Cigarettes popular ad campaigns. The commercial shows the journey of a young foal, being rescued and raised by Morris. Like most of the Marlboro Men commercials, there is little to no speaking. Instead, music plays in the background as we see images of the cowboy lighting up his Marlboro Cigarette, galloping alongside wild horses, and becoming somewhat of a ‘horse whisperer’. The open range leads us to recognize different levels of freedom and the fact that there is only one person in the entire commercial further creates the ideals that the Marlboro Man is self-sufficient, hard-working, and independent. However, this ad does show a softer side to the Marlboro Man, not seen in many other commercials. Even with the compassion and bond, he shares with the young horse as it grows, his representation of masculinity never waivers. The sign displayed in this ad was Morris, and what is signified is that if you to have a Marlboro cigarette you’ll be masculine, self-sufficient, free, and independent. All of this is said without so much as a word from the Marlboro Man. The Marlboro Man's square jawline and an intense gaze- that’s always partially hidden under the brim of his felt cowboy hat, as he controls a horse galloping full speed across endless grasslands, splashing through water, and wrangling wild horses and cattle create the understanding that the Marlboro Man is not only fearless but always in full control of the situation. After watching the video or viewing the images of the Marlboro Men, I find myself detaching cigarettes from being cancer-causing poison sticks, and instead finding a sense of nostalgia and true western authenticity relating to them- not being a smoker myself, the idea of lighting one up at the end of the commercial seems almost relaxing and inviting.
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Throughout the years there were many of Marlboro Men, and I believe that one of the reasons the ad campaign was such a success was because nearly all of the men who portrayed the ‘Marlboro Man’, were real-life cowboys. This created an undeniable sense of authenticity. For example, the actor who stars in 1996, Marlboro Commercial, is Chuck Morris, the owner of Rockin' M Rodeo Company in Red Bluff, Ca. Rockin' M Rodeo breeds bucking stock and contracts numerous CCPRA and PRCA rodeos. Chuck was raised in the western lifestyle and grew up in Hollister, California, on a cattle ranch. In the commercials, just as in real life, he was able to display true horsemanship, so the images of him roping the wild mustangs, or saddling and working with horses were all truly believable, because he, like many of the Marlboro Men before him, were raised doing just that. The authentic and unpretentious qualities that the Marlboro Men all possessed helped to make them trustworthy and relatable to the consumers.
Since 1972, Marlboro has been the most purchased cigarette brand in the U.S., with sales today of over $23 billion worldwide (Shirk, 2015). Over the years the iconic images of the ‘Marlboro Man’ have reiterated the public's ideas that the western lifestyle of the American ‘cowboy’ as a lifestyle that can only be lived by a ‘real man’. The images of American Cowboys have since become associated with masculinity, strength, unmatched work ethic, and a down home-honest-kind of integrity. In addition, Marlboro cigarettes are now thought of like a manly cigarette- lacking all traces of femininity. Over 20 years since the last of the popular ads displaying images of the Marlboro Man, Marlboro cigarettes are still associated with the images of the American ‘cowboy’, and the reference of the name ‘Marlboro Man’ still remains an iconic symbol, recognized worldwide as an image of the masculinity, strength, and independence.
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Marlboro Man Commercial(s) used for Semiotic Analysis
(All feature Chuck Morris, owner of Rockin’ M Rodeo Company, in Red Bluff, CA):
Bibliography
Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics: the Basics. second edition, Routledge, 2007Hamilton, E.L. “Before the Marlboro Man Came to Life in the 1950s, the Cigarette Was Advertised with the Slogan ‘Mild as May’ in Effort to Target Society Ladies.” The Vintage News, 2 Mar. 2018, www.thevintagenews.com/2018/03/02/marlboro-man/.Shirk, Adrian. “The Real Marlboro Man.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 17 Feb. 2015, www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/the-real-marlboro-man/385447/.West, Katherine M. “The Marlboro Man: The Making of an American Image.” The Marlboro Man: The Making of an American Image. Http://Ruby.fgcu.edu/Courses/Tdugas/ids3301/Acrobat/Marlboroman.pdf.
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