Salt of the Earth: Taking on the Marlboro Man

Social justice news
May 2001

It's how you ask, not who you ask
The debate over debt relief continues
T-shirt company capitalizes on domestic violence, attracts protests
An interreligious campaign uses faith to fight for the environment
Taking on the Marlboro Man
Summit of the Americas ends with plans for free trade

Taking on the Marlboro Man
It was a small demonstration, but it had all the necessary elements. One, a chant: "Hey ho, hey ho! The Marlboro Man has got to go!" Two, large wooden signs: skeleton heads in cowboy hats. And three, an enemy: the Philip Morris tobacco company wasn't handy, but its Chicago-based ad agency would do.

Though the turnout was low, Infact organizers still hoped to pressure Leo Burnett advertising into abandoning the popular Marlboro cowboy icon it had created for Philip Morris and admitting that the image marketed cigarettes to children worldwide.

Infact isn't limiting itself to demonstrations, however. The Boston-based watchdog group is trying to strike Philip Morris where it will hurt most—the pocketbook. It's calling on U.S. consumers to boycott products from PM's Kraft, Post, and Maxwell House subsidiaries to protest the conglomerate's continuing efforts to market cigarettes to young people around the world and what Infact charges is PM's interference with global health agencies attempts to discourage cigarette smoking.

Though recent legislation and court cases have profoundly reduced the marketing options for cigarette manufacturers in the United States, most operate without similar legal restraints in many other countries around the world—particularly in the developing world where cigarette advertising is as prominent now as it was 10 or 20 years ago in the U.S. The World Health Organization projects that the yearly death toll from tobacco will rise to 10 million by the 2020s–with seven million of those deaths striking economically poor countries.

Infact began in the 1970s as a grassroots campaign against Nestle's marketing of baby formula in the developing world. In the 1980s and 1990s it boycotted General Electric for its role in promoting and producing nuclear weapons.

So even if you can't make the next demonstration, Infact says you can still take part in the protest. Just stop by your local grocery store and bypass a package of Kraft macaroni and cheese.

More info:
Infact

Infact's Philip Morris campaign
Philip Morris
Kraft Foods
Leo Burnett

Back to page top