Friday, July 8, 2011

Saturday Smoking Lounge: Beatles Endorse Marlboro

The famous Marlboro Man
Marlboro is almost certainly the most popular cigarette brand in the world today and it is a little known fact that John Lennon and George Harrison cut an ad for the brand during their Beatlemania heyday.

The ad, shown below, had an obviously low-production value and was an impromptu effort filmed aboard a tour flight.

But at the height of their popularity, anything touched by the Beatles would sell so Philip Morris apparently lived with the reality that the Beatles wouldn't stoop to sit down in a studio and shoot a serious ad.
The Beatles were smokin' in the mid-60s

Ironically, George Harrison blamed his death on his heavy smoking of earlier years and in 2003, U.S. politically correct poster makers, airbrushed the famous cigarette out of Paul McCartney's hand in the Abbey Road poster. This brought down the ire of Apple Inc. which owns the rights to the photo.

John was a heavy smoker to his dying day -- a death that was in no way affected by tobacco use.

Here is the peculiar Beatles Marlboro ad:

Posted by Chicago Lampoon at 2:15 PM
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3 comments:

  1. DarcsFalconJuly 10, 2011 at 10:39 PM

    That really is one of the weirdest commercials I've ever seen. I wonder how high they were!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chicago LampoonJuly 20, 2011 at 4:59 PM

    I think this was before they discovered pot, Dylan turned them on to that in '66 or so. But maybe they were well lubed with their fave rum and Cokes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 17, 2011 at 12:13 AM

    I wonder who the heaviest smokers in the band were?...hmmm

    ReplyDelete

Comments invited, however anonymous commentors had better deal directly with the issues raised and avoid ad hominem drivel. As for Teachers' Union seminar writers -- forget about it.

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