Marlboro  is the largest selling brand of cigarettes in the world. It is made by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the US, and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. It is famous for its billboard advertisements, magazine ads of the Marlboro Man and its long associated history in the sponsorship of motorsport. Richmond, Virginia is the location of the largest Marlboro cigarette manufacturing plant.

Philip Morris launched the Marlboro brand in 1924 as a woman's cigarette, based on the slogan "Mild As May". In the 1920s, advertising for the cigarette was primarily based around how ladylike the cigarette was. To this end, the filter had a printed red band around it to hide lipstick stains, calling it "Beauty Tips to Keep the Paper from Your Lips".

A pack of Marlboro "Silvers" (previously: "ultra-lights")
After scientists published a major study linking smoking to lung cancer in the 1950s, Philip Morris repositioned Marlboro as a men's cigarette in order to fit a market niche of men who were concerned about lung cancer. At the time, filtered cigarettes were considered safer than unfiltered cigarettes, but had been until that time only marketed to women. Men at the time indicated that while they would consider switching to a filtered cigarette, they were concerned about being seen smoking a cigarette marketed to women.
The red and white package was designed by the Designer Frank Gianninoto. The repositioning of Marlboro as a men's cigarette was handled by Chicago advertiser Leo Burnett. The proposed campaign was to present a lineup of manly figures: sea captains, weightlifters, war correspondents, construction workers, etc. The cowboy was to have been the first in this series. While Philip Morris was concerned about the campaign, they eventually gave the green light.
Within a year, Marlboro's market share rose from less than one percent to the fourth best-selling brand. This convinced Philip Morris to drop the lineup of manly figures and stick with the cowboy.
In order to comply with a court ruling USA vs. Philip Morris, Philip Morris (and all other cigarette companies) is now prevented from using words such as "Lights", "Ultra-Lights", "Medium", "Mild", or any similar designation that yields a false impression that they are safer than regular full flavor cigarettes. Thus Marlboro and other cigarette companies must use only color coding instead; for example Marlboro Lights are now called Marlboro Gold Pack.


Philip Morris sold the Canadian rights to the "Marlboro" name to Imperial Tobacco Canada in 1932. After the brand's successful American relaunch in the 1950s – which later became well known to Canadians though exposure to the brand's international sponsorships and advertising – Philip Morris tried several legal manoeuvres in attempting to reacquire the Canadian rights, to no avail. Imperial Tobacco continues to sell a line of cigarettes under the Marlboro name in Canada, albeit with very different packaging from that of the Philip Morris product. Philip Morris retains the rights to the "rooftop" trade dress and other elements of Marlboro's branding which were developed after the 1932 sale, and has historically used that trade dress in Canada in combination with the names "Matador" or occasionally "Maverick".
In 2006, Philip Morris International's Canadian affiliate Rothmans, Benson & Hedges relaunched the product without any brand name, which led to a legal challenge from Imperial, contending that the new packaging created customer confusion by merely suggesting the Marlboro brand, thereby infringing on Imperial's Canadian trademark rights. Canada's Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Imperial in June 2012. The opinion noted that Canadian regulations which (in most cases) prohibits the public display of tobacco products at retail locations – i.e., customers must ask for a brand by name – exacerbated the situation, as there were now two products that customers might be referring to when asking for "Marlboro". Though PMI is expected to appeal, shortly after the ruling it began using the brand name "Rooftop" on packaging for the previously unbranded cigarettes.


Marlboro Friday refers to April 2, 1993, when Philip Morris announced a 20% price cut to their Marlboro cigarettes to fight back against generic competitors, which were increasingly eating into their market share.
As a result, Philip Morris's stock fell 26%, and the share value of other branded consumer product companies, including Coca-Cola and RJR Nabisco, fell as well. The broad index fell 1.98% that day. Fortune magazine deemed Marlboro Friday "the day the Marlboro Man fell off his horse." for Philip Morris Investors interpreted the price slash as an admission of defeat from the Marlboro brand, that Philip Morris could no longer justify its higher price tag and now had to compete with generic brands.
Since the Marlboro man was an image that stood since 1954, it was considered one of the biggest marketing icons, investors reasoned that to see the Marlboro icon give in to a price war, the marketing itself must be ineffective. As a result of plummeting stock value in major American brands, 1993 marked a slight decrease in U.S. ad expenditures.
It was the only decrease to occur since 1970. At the time, this event was regarded as signifying "the death of a brand" and the advent of a "value-minded" consumer generation who pay more attention to the real value of products and not the brand names. This view soon proved to be incorrect, with the rest of the decade's economy being dominated by brands and driven by high-budget marketing campaigns



References

^ Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo, ed. (2003). W.C. Privy's Original Bathroom Companion. St. Martin's Press. pp. 407–410. ISBN 0-312-28750-X.
^ After Bans, Tobacco Tries Direct Marketing (audio on page)
^ John Wells (2010-01-06). "John Wells’s phonetic blog: Marlborough". Phonetic-blog.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
^ USA Vs. Philip Morris 2006 http://www.justice.gov/civil/cases/tobacco2/amended%20opinion.pdf
^ "''Eurosport Yahoo News'', April 29, 2010". Uk.eurosport.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
^ Jagger,Suzy; Watson, Rory, "Ferrari F1 barcode a ‘smokescreen for cigarette adverts’", The Times (London), April 29, 2010
^ "Ferrari removes bar code design from car". USA Today. May 7, 2010.
^ "Le nouveau logo de Ferrari propice à polémique?'', January 28, 2011". Toilef1.com. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
^ "''Ferrari extends deal with tobacco company Philip Morris'', June 16, 2011". En.espnf1.com. 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
^ a b Gauthier, Johanne (2012-06-29). "Marlboro Canada Limited v. Philip Morris Products S.A. (2012 FCA 201)". Federal Court of Appeal (Canada). Retrieved 2012-09-15.
^ a b Krashinsky, Susan (2012-08-03). "Why Marlboro Country ends at the border". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2012-09-15.