In the 1920s, advertising for the cigarette was primarily based on how ladylike the filter cigarette was, in an attempt to appeal to the mass market. 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". Philip Morris also made various sports-related billboards, stickers and other memorabilia throughout the years, mainly promoting the Marlboro brand via its McLaren and Ferrari teams partnerships in places like Russia and Monaco. Through licensees, Philip Morris sells various merchandising products, such as lighters, ashtrays, sunglasses and other accessories, which are sometimes given away to the target group as part of marketing promotions. In 1983, the campaign "Marlboro Adventure Team" was launched in Germany, in which purchasers of the brand could apply to win a trip to the USA to live like the "Marlboro Man", as well as a plethora of different clothing items and accessories.
Post-Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement In the aftermath of the
1998 Master Settlement Agreement, Marlboro, then the leading cigarette brand in the United States, was greatly restricted in its capacity advertise its product offerings. Philip Morris thus shifted primarily to '
point of sale' and
mail advertising. By 2005, Marlboro had exclusive contracts with almost half of the country's retailers to display and advertise its premium offerings in prominent locations. By 2000, the company had adopted the
Marlboro Miles rewards catalog as a means of incentivizing consumer loyalty. In 2009, the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an earlier court judgement which had found that the proof-of-purchase system it utilized was by definition a 'gift certificate' program. This secondary judgement allowed Philip Morris to revoke the validity of 'Five Miles' products after a certain date.
Sport sponsorship According to Ellen Merlo, vice president of marketing services at Philip Morris, quoted in a 1989 Marlboro advertisement:We perceive Formula One and Indy car racing as adding, if you will, a modern-day dimension to the Marlboro Man. The image of Marlboro is very rugged, individualistic, heroic. And so is this style of auto racing. From an image standpoint, the fit is good.
Formula One : Marlboro's motorsport sponsorship started with the
BRM Formula One team in . car in the season. This is
Emerson Fittipaldi driving the
McLaren M23 at the
1974 British Grand Prix. of
Michael Schumacher in .Marlboro is known for its association with
motor racing. This started in the season with
the sponsorship of the
Formula One team
BRM. The first win for a Marlboro-sponsored
Formula One car was achieved at the
1972 Monaco Grand Prix by
Jean-Pierre Beltoise driving for the BRM team. In and , the cigarette giant backed the
Frank Williams Racing Cars team, whose cars were registered as
Iso-Marlboro. In the
1974 season, under the leadership of advertising executive and eventual Formula One power broker
John Hogan, Marlboro became associated with the
McLaren team. The team won their first
World Constructors' Championship as well as first
World Drivers' Championship (for
Emerson Fittipaldi) in the first season of the partnership between McLaren and Marlboro. The team won another drivers title in for
James Hunt. Following that, the partnership went through a dry patch until
Ron Dennis's Project Four Organization took over the team in . Marlboro-sponsored McLaren triumphed Formula One for much of the 1980s and early 1990s, with
Niki Lauda,
Alain Prost and
Ayrton Senna between them winning the Drivers' Championship all but one year from to . After the departure of Ayrton Senna at the end of the season, Marlboro McLaren never won a race again. Marlboro ended their sponsorship of the team at the end of the season, which ended the red and white McLaren livery. McLaren was sponsored by
West from the start of the season onwards. McLaren and Marlboro had the longest sponsorship deal between a team and its title sponsor in Formula One history, which lasted for 23 consecutive seasons (–). Over the years,
McLaren altered the Marlboro livery to comply with regional
anti-tobacco sponsorship laws which were in place in countries like
France, the
UK and later
Germany. The Marlboro logo was replaced by a chevron in , with a
barcode in and and from to or with
"McLaren" in and from to and to . At the
1986 Portuguese Grand Prix,
Keke Rosberg's car was painted yellow and white rather than red and white, to advertise Marlboro Lights. Marlboro also sponsored
Scuderia Ferrari's drivers since the season (the brand appeared only on helmets and suits) but only in Marlboro became a minor sponsor on Ferrari's
Formula One cars. Until then,
Enzo Ferrari allowed only technical suppliers brands to appear on his team cars. In , Marlboro became the main sponsor (surpassing
Goodyear, and making that Ferrari painting the car's high air boxes were painted red and white), eventually becoming the title sponsor in when the team was officially renamed as
"Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro". Marlboro remained Ferrari's title sponsor until the
2011 European Grand Prix and the main sponsor until the end of the season. Formula One car and team at the
2006 Bahrain Grand Prix Over the years, Ferrari, just like McLaren, had to alter the Marlboro livery in various ways to comply with regional anti-tobacco sponsoring laws which were in place in countries like France, the
UK and later Germany. The Marlboro logo was removed completely or replaced with a white space from to (The Ferrari cars had white spaces over Marlboro occasionally in and ), changed to a
"bar code" from to 1999 and in and , or the text was removed while keeping the chevron with the driver's name () and in the team member clothing, the Marlboro logo became a white square with a red stripe above with the driver's written name from the 1980s until . The team used a special livery for the
2001 Italian Grand Prix in remembrance of the
September 11 attacks in the US; both cars ran without any sponsorship livery and sported matte black nose-cones. In the
2005 Bahrain Grand Prix the cars sported black nosecones as a sign of mourning for
Pope John Paul II. In September 2005, Ferrari signed an extension of their sponsorship arrangement with Marlboro until 2011. This agreement came at a time when tobacco sponsorship had become wholly banned in the
European Union and other F1 teams ended their relationships with tobacco companies. In reporting the deal,
F1 Racing magazine judged it to be a "black day" for the sport, putting non-tobacco funded teams at a disadvantage and discouraging other brands from entering a sport still associated with tobacco. The magazine estimated that in the period between 2005 and 2011, Ferrari received $1 billion from the agreement. Depending on the venue of races and the particular national laws, the Marlboro branding became largely subliminal in most countries. In mid-2006, special "racing editions" of Marlboro Red were sold in the UK, with a Ferrari-inspired design, although the Ferrari name and badge were not used. In April 2008, Marlboro displayed explicit on-car branding on Ferrari for the last time, then permanently replaced with a variety of barcodes in place of it. Since then, there were calls from leading health officials, the
European Commissioner for Health and influential doctors for a review of the subliminal advertising contract Marlboro has with Advertising Guerrilla and
Ferrari, due to the implications of influencing the purchase of cigarettes with possible subliminal advertising, as no tobacco products can be promoted in sporting events in Europe. The Ferrari team claimed the barcode was part of the car design, not an advertising message. An article published in the academic journal
Tobacco Control which reported research into the history of tobacco sponsorship in motorsport stated that Marlboro had used vertical stripes in its sponsorship of F1 cars as early as 1972 with BRM, as well as with McLaren in 1988 and Ferrari in 1993, that these had been used in the same locations on cars and driver clothing as conventional Marlboro logos, that when the barcode logo was finally removed by Ferrari they announced that they had made the decision with Philip Morris, and that then Philip Morris head of sponsorship
Maurizio Arrivabene had referred to the barcode design as "our logo" in an online article, concluding that the barcode was a form of "
alibi marketing" which used the fundamentals of the Marlboro brand identity to advertise it whilst avoiding conventional logos. The controversial barcode design was removed by Ferrari for the start of the
Spanish Grand Prix in the
2010 season, but the barcode remained on drivers' team gear. In January 2011, the Scuderia Ferrari presented a new logo for its racing team. This logo is considered by an F1-website as an advertisement for Marlboro, evocating the top-left corner design of a Marlboro cigarettes pack. In June 2011, Ferrari extended its partnership with Marlboro through to the end of 2015, despite cigarette advertising being banned in the sport. The deal has been subsequently renewed for three more years, through 2018. In February 2018, Philip Morris renewed their partnership deal with Ferrari until the end of 2021. While the logo, which has been in place since 2011, has been removed on this year's car. Before
2018 Japanese Grand Prix, Ferrari launches their revised
SF71H livery featuring PMI's Mission Winnow brand. at the Honda Collection Hall Marlboro had provided financial support to many racing drivers, the most illustrious of whom are
Alain Prost,
Ayrton Senna and
Mika Häkkinen. From 1970 until the mid-1990s, the logos of the cigarettes could be present on the combinations of the drivers if they were not present on the cars. Marlboro has also sponsored many grand prix races up until 2005. Marlboro also sponsored a multitude of other, smaller teams in Formula One. It was the main sponsor of
Alfa Romeo F1 Team between and , although unable to match up to its pre-war and 1950s heyday, the team only achieving one pole position, one fastest lap and four podium finishes. In the Italian clothing brand
Benetton took over Alfa Romeo's livery sponsorship, which they held until the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo from Formula One at the end of . The Marlboro logo was replaced with a barcode at certain races, due to tobacco or alcohol sponsorship bans in place. Marlboro sponsored the
BMS Scuderia Italia team from until , when
Chesterfield became their main sponsor. The livery was similar to the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo ones. The Marlboro logo was displayed on the front and side of the cars and on the drivers' helmets. In some races where explicit tobacco sponsoring was forbidden, the Marlboro logo was removed. Marlboro sponsored the
Arrows F1 (by the time known as
"Footwork") team in . While
Ruffles, a
potato chip brand, sponsored the car, Marlboro sponsored the drivers' helmets. Marlboro sponsored the
EuroBrun team in . The
ER188, driven by
Oscar Larrauri,
Stefano Modena and
Gregor Foitek, featured the Marlboro logo on the helmets of the drivers, as well as the Marlboro logo and name on the side of the cars. Marlboro sponsored the
Fittipaldi Automotive team in . The Marlboro logo was displayed on the helmets of the drivers. Marlboro sponsored the
Forti F1 team in and . The logo was displayed on the top side of the car, as well as on the helmets of the drivers. Marlboro sponsored the
Merzario team from until the team's collapse in . The Marlboro logo were displayed on the front, side and on the drivers helmets. Marlboro sponsored the
Minardi team in . The Marlboro logo was displayed on the front and side of the cars and on the drivers helmets. In some races where explicit tobacco sponsoring was forbidden, the Marlboro logo was replaced with a barcode. Marlboro sponsored the
Onyx Grand Prix team in and . The Marlboro logo was displayed on the front and side of the cars and on the drivers helmets. In some races where explicit tobacco sponsoring was forbidden, the Marlboro logo was replaced with a barcode, but the Chevron logo was retained. Marlboro sponsored
Team Rebaque in . The Marlboro logo was displayed on the front and side of the cars and on the drivers helmets. In some races where explicit tobacco sponsoring was forbidden, the Marlboro logo was removed. Marlboro sponsored the
Rial Racing team in and . The Marlboro logo was displayed on the front and side of the cars and on the drivers helmets. In some races where explicit tobacco sponsoring was forbidden, the Marlboro logo was replaced with a barcode. Marlboro sponsored the
Spirit Racing team in and . The Marlboro logo was displayed on the front and side of the cars and on the drivers helmets.
GP2 From 2005 to 2007,
GP2 Series team
ART Grand Prix was sponsored by Marlboro. The Marlboro logos were prominently shown on the car in the
2005 and
2006 seasons, but in 2007 the team only sponsored the brand on the rear wing. In countries where the sponsoring of tobacco was forbidden, the Marlboro logos were replaced with a barcode.
Grand Prix motorcycle racing on a Yamaha YZR500 in 1990 Marlboro entered the
Grand Prix motorcycle racing in the seventies as personal sponsor of riders like
Giacomo Agostini,
Angel Nieto and
Jarno Saarinen. In
1976, Marlboro backed Agostini's team, who raced
MV Agusta bikes with little factory support. Since
1983, the cigarette brand sponsored the
Yamaha 500 cc works team, which was managed by Agostini until 1989 and then by
Kenny Roberts until 1996. During that period, the Japanese bikes won six World Championships and, as a result of their sponsorship, Marlboro decals on
race replica bikes became one of the most popular decal kits that were available. In the 1990s, Marlboro's livery also appeared on other bikes, especially the
Hondas entered by
Team Pileri (from 1992 to 1995),
Pons Racing (in
1993) and
Erv Kanemoto's team (in 1997 and 1998) who achieved the 1997 250 cc World Championship with
Max Biaggi. The
Yamaha works team was again associated with Marlboro between
1999 and
2002. riding a
Desmosedici GP7 at Chinese Grand Prix Marlboro sponsored the
Ducati Corse MotoGP team from
2003.
Casey Stoner took his first MotoGP title in
2007. As of the
2009 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season they were only allowed to brand the bikes at one round, in
Qatar at the
Losail International Circuit, using the barcode in other races. The controversial barcode design was then removed by Ducati for the start of the
French motorcycle Grand Prix in the
2010 season. In January 2011 the Ducati Team presented a new logo which was regarded as a subliminal advertisement for Marlboro, evocating the top-left corner design of a Marlboro cigarettes pack, similar to the one used by Ferrari. In January 2018, it was speculated that Ducati would carry sponsorship by Philip Morris' heat-not-burn brand
iQOS instead, bypassing currently in-place laws that prohibit specific advertising of tobacco products.
Superbike World Championship Marlboro sponsored the Yamaha Dealer Team from its inaugural season in 1988 to 1990.
CART/IndyCar driven by
Emerson Fittipaldi in 1993 Marlboro sponsorship in
IndyCar dates back to
1986 when the livery appeared on the
Emerson Fittipaldi's car entered by
Patrick Racing. In
1990 Penske Racing hired Fittipaldi and started a 20 years-long association with Marlboro and its distinctive red and white livery. However, in the
2007 season Marlboro logos were hidden and subsequently replaced with
Team Penske branding but the team retained the color scheme as Philip Morris USA was still Penske's main sponsor (similar case to
Scuderia Ferrari and
Ducati MotoGP Team that had Marlboro sponsorship but both Ferrari and Ducati teams forced to hide the Marlboro logos due to anti-tobacco advertising law).
2009 was the final year of the Penske-Marlboro association.
24 Hours of Le Mans Since their start in
Formula One, Marlboro has also sponsored numerous teams and races, from
Joest Racing in
Group C in 1983 to
Toyota at the
24 Hours of Le Mans in
1999 (despite a tobacco ban in
France).
Masters of Formula 3 Marlboro sponsored the
Marlboro Masters Formula Three race in
Zandvoort.
World Rally Championship Lancer Evolution VI Group A rally car Marlboro has a long history in
rallying sponsorship, including the factory
World Rally Championship teams of
Lancia (between 1972 and 1974),
Mitsubishi (from to ) and
Peugeot (from to ). The cigarette brand appeared on helmets and suits of some of the best rally drivers, being personal sponsor of
Markku Alén,
Timo Salonen,
Juha Kankkunen,
Miki Biasion and others. Between 1987 and 1992, Marlboro backed
Carlos Sainz, appearing on his cars (
Ford Sierra in 1987–88 and then
Toyota Celica since 1989). In 1993 the cigarette brand started an association with Belgian rally driver
Freddy Loix, who was racing for
Opel in the Belgian rally championship. Between 1996 and 1998 Loix raced with Toyota Team Belgium in the WRC, carrying the Marlboro livery on his car. In 1999 he moved to
Mitsubishi Ralliart works team, with the iconic livery remaining on successive
Lancer Evolutions until the marque's temporary WRC withdrawal at the end of 2002. Marlboro also sponsored the cars of Emirati rally driver
Mohammed bin Sulayem and has sponsored a number of rallies including the
Safari Rally (between 1982 and 1990), the
Rally Argentina, the
Rally of Lebanon, the
Jordan Rally, and the
UAE Desert Challenge.
Australian touring car racing Holden Commodore VK Marlboro was the naming rights sponsor of the
Holden Dealer Team from 1974 until 1984.
IMSA SportsCar Marlboro sponsored the
Italo-
American IMSA SportsCar Le Mans GT team
Risi Competizione since 2004 but
Risi Competizione opting to invisible the Marlboro logo due to the team respecting
Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement regulations and also ban of cigarette advertising in sports.
Badminton Marlboro sponsored the
Thomas and
Uber Cup from 1984 to 1990, as well as the
Sudirman Cup from 1991 to 1995 and 2001 to 2013. ==Products==