Marlboro cigarette brand is own by two of the world's largest tobacco companies, comprising Philip Morris International Inc. and Philip Morris USA Inc., both of which are owned by U.S. holding company Altria Group, Inc.
In mid 1800s, a London tobacconist opened a store where Marlboro cigarettes were manufactured and sold. Later in 1902, the tobacco company was incorporated in New York as a British-American venture. The ownership was shifted to American stockholders in 1919 and the cigaretes company was renamed Philip Morris & Co. It became a principal maker of cigarettes in the 1930s and '40s, and the popularity of its Marlboro cigarettes grew with its use of cowboy imagery to advertise them in the mid 1950s. The image involved a rugged cowboy or cowboys, in nature with(out) a sigarette. The original idea for the Marlboro Man came from the Chase Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. It is for this reason that all pictures of "The Marlboro Man" is a heart brand (The Chase Barnd) on his chaps and his horse. Marlboro quickly gained market share and saw their sales increased to 5,000% within 8 months of the ad sigarets campaign's premiere.
"Mild as May" is another cigaretes advertising campaign used by Marlboro cigarettes before they added a filtered tip to their product. The Marlboro product was endorsed by Mae West and marketed towards women. One of the features of Marlboro cigarettes at the time was a red tip, which hid lipstick marks that women would leave while smoking.
The tobacco company developed other American cigarette brands such as Parliament, Virginia Slims, and Merit. Overseas ventures in the manufacture and marketing of cigarettes led to the formation of Philip Morris International, which by 1972 had established sales in many parts of the world, including the former Soviet Union.