The Marlboro Man

In 2002, NPR began a series entitled Present at the Creation--a look at a series of American icons, many drawn from popular culture. One wonders if students today even know of the Marlboro Man ads that began in the 1950s. The NPR piece, The Marlboro Man (7:03) is a model of historical reconstruction, covering a signiicant moment of American culture in capsule form.

Musings

• This topic also deals with the power of one specific image: that of the rugged cowboy. How do you explain the effectiveness of this particular image? Does it appeal more to men or women, the old or the young ? Why? Here's an aside: One of the most recognizable photographs from the Iraq war is the Marine at Fallujah, not surprisingly known as the "Marlboro Soldier." The soldier was Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller and a little bit of research will reveal the great distance that often separates images from reality.
  
  
• The NPR web page has links to a number of articles relating to Marlboro, Philip Morris, and anti-smoking campaigns. One particular sub-area of this campaign has been the largely unsuccessful effort to ban the use of all pictures in magazine, poster, and billboard ads for cigarettes--that is, the kind of advertising that made Marlboro so popular and seems still to have a real appeal. Here's a summary of the history of cigarette advertising. What are your thoughts about not allowing cigarette companies to use pictures in their billboards and magazine ads? Here's a link to some background on Camel's Joe Camel campaign.
  
  
• A related matter here is the movement to ban or control other sorts of ads: for instance, beer commercials on TV or in college arenas, or junk foods aimed at kids. Identify some commercial images used in commercials for these products that you think have been especially effective. Here's an aside that may prove of interest to some: an article on the move in Sao Paolo, Brazil to ban all outdoor picture ads (that is, billboards).