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saddlebag dispatches
R
OBERT (BOB) C. NORRIS, the original Marlboro Man, died on November 3rd, 2019. Two stories have circulated on how Bob got the job of an advertising icon for Philip Morris. In the early fifties, advertising executives for the Philip Morris Tobacco company were scheduled to take photographs at Bob’s ranch in Colorado, as part of the new advertising campaign. The model they brought with them didn’t
fit the bill as a rugged cowboy. The members of the advertising team stomped on his outfit to give it the worked in look they wanted. Then they saw Bob. He was
dressed in his normal working outfit, but he fit the image the advertising executives wanted to a tee. He had the rugged good looks the ad executives wanted, and they promptly offered him the job. The executives took his straw hat, placed a felt hat on his head and a Marlboro cigarette in his hand, and advertising history was made. Prior to the Marlboro Man, Philip Morris Tobacco used the hand tattoo campaign in magazines, and a few early tv ads. A cowboy, police officer, or a construction worker was shown reaching for a cigarette, and a close up showed a tattoo on his hand. Most of the time it was an eagle on the web of flesh between the thumb and forefinger. The second story had the tobacco executives looking through photographs. They found one of Bob and John Wayne at a quarter-horse sale. They secured transportation to Colorado and visited the T-Cross Ranch. They found Bob working cattle and asked him if he was interested in making commercials. He told them he was busy, at the moment, but if they were serious, to return in a week and they’d talk it over. The executives returned and Bob became the Marlboro Man. Whichever story was true, Bob was the Marlboro Man, the face of the brand for a dozen years. He made tv commercials, and newspaper and magazine ads.
