Smoking kills. I know that, you know that. In case we forget, cigarette boxes had big warning

slapped on them to remind us that smoking is bad for your health. So that's presented a

challenge for tobacco companies which are severely limited in how they market cigarettes,

especially when it comes to kids which is a good thing. I'm looking at you, Joe Camel.

Yet despite the restrictions and health warnings, one cigarette has so saturated our collective

subconscious that even if you have never, ever been tempted to smoke, just hearing the name

brings an image to mind. Mar-Berl. Now and then, no matter who he is or what he does,

a man's got to get away by himself. He's this burly, all-American cowboy who lives off the land

and fins for himself. You don't see many wild stallions anymore.

Personally, I never saw these ads growing up because after 1971, cigarette ads were banned

on television and radio. But I still know them because that cowboy became synonymous with the

brand. He's a strapping frontiersman with a weather-beaten face, galloping on his horse,

across the plains, or he's fishing, or hurting animals. And in the background, you hear that

soaring music composed by Elmer Bernstein for the classic western The Magnificent Seven.

Come to Mar-Berl Country.

Listen.

The thunder of the hearth, the quiet of the sky,

the whisper of a tumbleweed rolling by.

But that cigarette he's got in his mouth. The cigarette he made famous,

that cigarette it was actually designed for women.

From Business Insider, this is Brought to you by.

Brands you know, stories you don't. I'm Charlie Herney.

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