Mild as May – When Marlboro Cigarettes were for Women

Marlboro cigarettes for many decades were sold as a manly cigarette and used rugged and macho cowboys to advertise their overtly masculine brand. However, Marlboro were originally introduced as a cigarette for women and used the line “Mild as May” to attract a female audience. The Marlboro brand had some of the first cigarette adverts to show a fashionable woman smoking elegantly.

Early ads, targeting women who may have been concerned with their lipstick, mentioned “Ivory Tips” to “protect the lips”.

It wasn’t until 1954, several years after the war, that Marlboro went for the male market to compete with the three other top cigarette brands.