| IN
MEMORY OF OUR LOVED ONES Fallen victims of tobacco |
|
 |
Name: David McLean, aka, "Marlbro Man." Claim: The actor who portrayed the "Marlboro Man" in print and television cigarette advertisements died of cancer. Status: True. |
Origins:
To the anti-smoking
forces in our society, no irony could be more delicious than noting
that the Marlboro Man, the advertising symbol whose appearance in
the "Marlboro Country" series of advertisements was instrumental
in establishing Philip Morris' Marlboro brand as the world's best-selling
cigarette, died of lung cancer. Any claims about "the"
Marlboro Man are a bit misleading, however, since many different
men have portrayed the rugged-looking cowboys featured in Marlboro
cigarette advertisements since 1954. An Oklahoma native named Darrell
Winfield was the main Marlboro Man from the mid-1970s onwards, but
dozens of other men (many of them "real" cowboys) have
also modeled for television commercials, magazine and newspaper
advertisements, billboards, and other advertising materials promoting
Marlboro brand of cigarettes, and two of those men, both long-time
smokers, have died of cancers which began in their lungs:
David McLean, who appeared in many Marlboro television and print advertisements starting in the early 1960s, also died of cancer at age 73 on 12 October 1995. McLean starred in the short-lived 1960 television Western Tate, and he played roles in numerous television series and feature films during the 1960s and 1970s. McLean took up smoking at age 12, began to suffer from emphysema in 1985, and had a cancerous tumor removed from his right lung in 1993. Despite the surgery, the cancer remained and spread to his brain and spine, and McLean succumbed in 1995. In August 1996 McLean's widow and son filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Philip Morris, Inc., claiming that McLean was unable to stop smoking because of his nicotine addiction, and that his smoking habit was the cause of his lung cancer. (The lawsuit contended, among other issues, that McLean had been obligated to smoke up to five packs per take in order to get the right look while posing for advertisements, and that he received cartons of Marlboro cigarettes as gifts from Philip Morris.) At last report (in 1999) the lawsuit was still pending, having outlasted all attempts by defendant Philip Morris to have it dismissed. The public's fascination
with these deaths is easy to understand. With the growth of the
anti-smoking movement, the proliferation of lawsuits against tobacco
companies, and the passage of legislation restricting smoking in
public places over the last several years, the death of the ubiquitous
symbol of the world's best-selling cigarette is an irony that many
anti-smoking campaigners particularly relish. |
|
by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson |
|
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