The Marlboro Man is (or in many areas was - see below) part of a tobacco avertising campaign for Marlboro cigarettes from 1954 to 1999 in the United States. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. The image involves a rugged cowboy or cowboys, in nature with only a cigarette. The ads were originally conceived as a way to popularize filtered cigarettes, which at the time were considered feminine.