Help finding an ad for Marlboro Lights from 2007. Needle, haystack, whatevs.

June 7, 2012 1:28 PM

Do you happen to have a 5 year old magazine with this Marlboro ad in it?

Marlboro doesn't want to give the academic journal (that is going to publish our paper) permission to reproduce the image we used for our research. If possible I need to find a source (ie which magazine or even an online version) in which the original ad was published. Probably in 2007-2008ish?

This is the ad we're trying to find.

Tineye and google image search only give me results for the non Lights version of the ad. Thanks for any suggestions or help!

posted by tangaroo to grab bag (8 answers total)

The ad appears to be copyright 2000. I think you need an older magazine.
posted by 4ster at 1:38 PM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

From the typestyles on your linked image, it doesn't look quite right. The page that tineye brings up shows the typestyles that legit Marlboro ads of the period used.

I think it is a fake. I could be wrong.

Which brings up - what is the source of your image?
posted by caclwmr4 at 1:55 PM on June 7, 2012

Your ad says "1.5 mg "tar". That is a fake ad. Marlboro Light always had more "tar", like 9-12 or so without googling.
posted by caclwmr4 at 2:10 PM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Logo is wrong, plus all examples I dig up online have a product shot (of the pack). I agree with caclwmr4, this is a fake.
posted by roger ackroyd at 2:52 PM on June 7, 2012

I found a regular Marlboro ad in the January 2001 issue of Esquire. Don't have time to scan, but took a picture; sorry it's not great quality.

The wording at the bottom is the same, but the typography is off in your ad. The lower-case B in the logo doesn't dip below the line - it has a flat "foot" like the L. The information at the bottom of the printed ad is in a much lighter typeface and there are dashes in the phone number (i.e. 1-877-). The copyright line in the print ad is smaller than the text below, and the Surgeon General's warning type is different as well.

Could your ad be a student design project or something?
posted by Sweetie Darling at 3:39 PM on June 7, 2012

"This 2005 ad was the last Marlboro cigarette magazine ad to appear in the U.S. It ran in Motor Trend en Espa�ol; ad appears to have come from Ecuador unit of Philip Morris." Source
posted by travelwithcats at 4:25 PM on June 7, 2012

Yeah, thirding a fake. Found a site on nictotine, CO, and tar content through which I found this FOIA report (pdf) covering most cigarettes from 1998 to 2005. The lowest tar level I found for any Marlboro cigarette was 5mg for certain Ultra-Lights.
posted by 6550 at 12:06 AM on June 8, 2012

I should relabel this "wild goose chase." Thanks for all the responses and the efforts put into the search. My higher ups back tracked to the person who provided the ad and it was indeed a mock up. Thank you so much, you are all the best!
posted by tangaroo at 6:23 AM on June 8, 2012