[msb-alumni] Robert Norris, the Marlboro Man Who Never Smoked, Dies at 90
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 20:27:44 -0500
BlankRobert Norris, the Marlboro Man Who Never Smoked, Dies at 90. By Mariel
Padilla.
He gave up his role in the popular tobacco advertising campaign after 14 years,
saying he was setting a bad example for his children.
Robert C. Norris, a rancher known for his role as the Marlboro Man in
television
commercials for the cigarette brand, died on Nov. 3 in Colorado Springs. He was
90..
His death, at Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care, was announced on his Tee
Cross
Ranches website. No cause was given. Mr. Norris, portrayed in Marlboro
advertisements
with a cigarette in his hand or mouth, was the face of the Marlboro brand for
more
than a decade. He was first approached on his ranch after ad executives spotted
him
in a photo with the actor John Wayne, who was a close friend, his son Bobby
Norris
told KKTV in Colorado Springs. The Marlboro Man first appeared in 1955 after
the
cigarette and tobacco manufacturing company Philip Morris and the advertising
agency
Leo Burnett Worldwide revamped the cigarette brand. Mr. Norris was one of
several men
who depicted the Marlboro Man during the decades-long campaign. Marlboro was
founded
as a women's cigarette brand before it was repositioned as a masculine product
with a
rugged cowboy feel and personality. Prof. Scott Ellsworth, a lecturer at the
University of Michigan and former oral historian at the Smithsonian
Institution,
conducted nearly 60 interviews with former Marlboro men, Philip Morris
executives and
Leo Burnett personnel over two years to examine Marlboro's marketing strategy.
'The
Marlboro Man campaign is easily one of the most successful advertising
campaigns of
all time,' Professor Ellsworth said. 'It absolutely conquered the world. The ad
campaign helped Marlboro become the world's leading cigarette brand in 1972. It
has
remained the leading brand ever since. More than 43 percent of all cigarettes
bought
in the United States last year were Marlboro, according to Forbes. Barry
Vacker, an
associate professor of critical media studies at Temple University, said the
Marlboro
Man came during a turbulent period of the Cold War, the civil rights and
women's
rights movements and the emergence of rock 'n' roll. 'The Marlboro Man stood as
an
iconic symbol, an individual in control of his destiny,' Professor Vacker said.
'He
was a reassuring figure at the height of our fear of nuclear annihilation and a
conservative counter to changing values. Mr. Norris, though never a smoker, was
featured as a Marlboro Man in commercials that ran for about 14 years in the
United
States and Europe. He eventually abandoned the campaign because he felt he was
setting a bad example for his children, according to his ranch website. In
1964, the
surgeon general declared smoking a health hazard, and the tobacco industry
faced
increased regulations. Philip Morris, the nation's largest cigarette maker,
acknowledged decades later that smoking causes lung cancer after increased
pressure
from lawsuits, regulators and Congress. A federal ban on television and radio
advertisements for cigarettes took effect in 1971, and the Marlboro Man
campaign,
among others, was discontinued in the late 1990s in the United States as part
of a
sweeping settlement of litigation brought by nearly all the states against the
major
tobacco companies. Mr. Norris was born in Chicago on April 10, 1929, to Delora
and
Lester Norris. Many of his relatives were financiers and lawyers. He grew up in
St.
Charles, Ill., about 40 miles west of Chicago, and attended the University of
Kentucky, where he played football. He married Jane Wright, a recent graduate
of
DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., in 1950, and moved to Fort Collins,
Colo., in
1953. That year, Mr. Norris entered the horse and cattle business. A few years
after
moving to Colorado, Mr. Norris bought 20,000 acres and established the Tee
Cross
Ranch. It eventually expanded to 63,000 acres and a second ranch was created in
Arizona. Mr. Norris, a philanthropist with an affinity for the arts and
animals,
served on numerous boards and founded the Colorado Festival of World Theater,
according to the ranch website. In 2003, five baby elephants, which had been
orphaned
in Zimbabwe, were brought to the ranch. At the urging of his children, Mr.
Norris
adopted one elephant and named it Amy, a relationship chronicled in a
children's
book, 'Cowboys Love Elephants Too,' written by his daughter Carole Sondrup.
Besides
his daughter Carole and his son Bobby, Mr. Norris is survived by two other
children,
Steve Norris and Leslie Penkhus; a sister, Lavern Gaynor; and 13 grandchildren.
His
wife died in 2016.
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