There is no tobacco brand in the world that has such high sales as Marlboro. And that’s not just a nice metaphor, but a proven statistical fact. Marlborough has been produced by Philip Morris since 1924. But did you know that these cigarettes are one of the few that have significantly changed their focus?

The Philip Morris Company appeared in London in 1847. To be more precise, at that time it was not a company, but an ordinary tobacco kiosk. It took the company 38 years to grow, develop and become the owner of its own tobacco brand. At that time, Philip Morris had already produced 4 of its own cigarette brands: “Derby”, “Cambridge”, “Blues” and “Marlboro”. By 1924, the name of the latter had been shortened to Marlborough.

Initially, Marlboro cigarettes were positioned exclusively as women. But this positioning appeared for a reason, but thanks to the women’s suffrage movement. Suffragettes fought hard for the weaker sex to be granted the right to vote and for full gender equality in general. “If men smoke cigarettes, we should have the right too.”

Both the actor and the real cowboy took part in the filming of the ad. The first cowboy from Marlborough was the actor William Thorby. In the European ad campaign, the Marlborough cowboy was George Resenby, who was glamorized by the role of James Bond in 1969. The Marlboro ad with cowboy lead was filled with a fascinating spirit of freedom and wild plains, full of true masculine brutality and courage.