Funny thing is, my wife asked me about that the other day and I was able to tell her how Marlboro had been more of a ladies' cigarette before WW2.

'Cause she didn't understand why "Marlboro(ugh)" should have any kind of cowboy connotation. And I was able to explain to her, "It didn't, until the cigarette company decided it could sell more cigarettes by marketing to men."

Those wacky Madison Avenue guys.

Apparently, I'm the only guy who didn't know about this. For shame, zomby, for shame.

It's your age, ZB. You're too young to remember that filters on smokes were sissified. The Marlboro man wasn't just an attempt to market that brand of cigarette to men, it was a (successful) attempt to market the whole concept of filter cigarettes to men.
I won't even go into the whole business of keeping the end of a nonfilter dry and what it was called when you didn't.

Heheh. Have I told you how much we missed you?

O.K. my curiousity is definitely piqued now....