Dressed in trim, wind-defying slacks, she patiently scan the skiesenlivening the hours with her superb Marlboro Cigarettes.
The woman pictured here wears a patriotic red pant-suit resembling a uniform with a hard hat, an armband, and “wind-defying slacks.” She carries a cigarette in one gloved hand and binoculars in the other. She is likely a voluntary air raid spotter, one of the 1.5 million American civilians who volunteered to scan the skies of their communities for enemy Japanese and German planes during World War II. At the bottom of the ad, there is a list of the types of cigarettes Marlboro offers: Plain Ends, Ivory Tips, and Beauty Tips. The Marlboro Beauty Tips offered a cigarette with red tips so that a woman’s lipstick would not leave a noticeable mark on the tip of the cigarette. This advertisement decidedly targets women, and indeed, Marlboro ads were marketed to women until after the war in 1954 when the brand underwent an abrupt sex change with the introduction of the masculine “Marlboro Man.”
adult, Bond Stamps, Fashion, Female, Luxury, volunteer, woman, World War II, WWII
