Marlboro Man

I visited a famous person’s grave yesterday. The name Wayne McLaren may not ring a bell for you but if you are anywhere close to my age you will certainly remember him.

McLaren was the Marlboro Man in Marlboro Country. His image was in every magazine you picked up in the mid seventies

I wonder how many young boys were influenced to start smoking because this cowboy dude looked so cool with a Marlboro hanging out of his mouth.


The Marlboro Man ads were definitely a great marketing ploy for Phillip Morris. It was the most powerful and in some quarters the most hated brand image in the century. The Marlboro Man stands worldwide as the ultimate America cowboy and masculine trademark helping establish Marlboro as the best selling cigarette in the world.

The Marlboro Man ads were also good for the funeral business.

When these ads first appeared, Marlboro sales increased over 3000% the next year. It is safe to say the ads worked. A lot of new folks thought it was pretty cool to smoke Marlboro cigarettes.

For the record, Marlboro Country was a mythical place. And the Marlboro Man was a mythical American cowboy.


But the grave I visited today was not mythical. I couldn’t help but notice that the Marlboro Man died when he was only 51 years old.

Not so ironically, McLaren died of lung cancer. He was a pack and a half a day smoker for over 25 years. He was diagnosed with lung cancer about two years before he died and became an anti-smoking crusader. McLaren even appeared before the stockholders of Phillip Morris asking them to limit their advertising.

But his crusading was too late for him and I would think was too late for a lot of other folks who were influenced by these ads. The Marlboro Man who looked so cool in the magazines didn’t end up very cool lying in a hospital bed with tubes running out of him.

And his bronze grave marker didn't look very cool either.

His mother was quoted as saying his last words were, “Take care of the children. Tobacco will kill you. I’m living proof of it.”

I’m not sure about the “living proof” part of his statement at this point but he is proof. But I do agree he was right about the tobacco killing you part.

I would say he was dead right.