Marlboro

Marlboro is a brand of cigarette made by Altria. It is famous for its billboard advertisements and magazine ads of the Marlboro Man. more...

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Philip Morris, a London-based cigarette manufacturer, created a New York subsidiary in 1902 to sell several of its cigarette brands, including Marlboro. By 1924 they were advertising Marlboro as a woman's cigarette based on the slogan "Mild As May".

The brand was sold in this capacity until World War II when the brand faltered and was temporarily removed from the market. At the end of the war, three brands emerged that would establish a firm hold on the cigarette market: Camel, Lucky Strike, and Chesterfield. These brands were supplied to US soldiers during the war, creating an instant market upon their return.

During the 1950s Reader's Digest magazine published a series of articles that linked smoking with lung cancer. Phillip Morris, and the other cigarette companies took notice and each began to market filtered cigarettes. The new Marlboro with a filtered end was launched in 1955. In the early 1960s Philip Morris invented "Marlboro Country" and distilled their manly imagery into the rugged cowboys known as the "Marlboro Men." Marlboro quickly gained market share and saw their sales increase 5,000 percent within 8 months of the ad campaign's premiere. It emerged as the number one youth-initiation brand.

The brand is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London Factory. Richmond, Virginia, is now the location of the largest Marlboro cigarette manufacturing plant.

Varieties

As of September 10, 2007:

Reds (Full Flavor): Kings, 100s and 72s; Medium: Kings and 100s (marketed as Marlboro Red & Gold in the EU); Lights: Kings, 100s, and 72s (marketed as Marlboro Gold in the EU); Ultra Lights: Kings and 100s (marketed as Marlboro Silver in the EU); Menthol: Kings, 100s and 72s; Menthol Lights: Kings and 100s; Menthol Ultra Lights: Kings and 100s; Menthol Milds: Kings, 100s and 72s; Menthol Smooth: Kings and 100s (new, released February, 2007) (in Finland released 2002); Virginia Blend: Kings and 100s (new, released September, 2007); UltraSmooth: Kings; Blend No. 27; Marlboro Blend 28 (UK); Marlboro Blend 29 (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy,); Marlboro Wides (Portugal, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Mexico, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, Hong Kong; marketed as "Limited Edition" in Poland); Marlboro Mix 9 (Indonesia; mixed with cloves)(new, released July 2007); Marlboro Filter Plus (South Korea; extremely low tar)(released January 2006);

A U.S. District Court decision on August 17, 2002 ruled that tobacco companies could no longer use terms like "'low tar,' 'light,' ultra light,' 'mild' or 'natural'", which they declared to be deceptive (since customers might think "light" or "ultra light" means a safer cigarette). Beginning in January 2007, the ruling stated, these product names would no longer be used. The companies were expected to change the names to standard "color" names: Marlboro Red, Marlboro Gold (Light), Marlboro Silver (Ultra Light). Those "color names" are already in use in the European Union, where use of potentially misleading names like "lights" was outlawed in 2005. However, in November 2006, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia allowed sales of "light" and "mild" cigarettes to continue while Altria filed an appeal.

Read more at Wikipedia.org