The Marlboro Man is arguably the most successful advertising campaign of all time. It sold billions and billions of cigarettes over several decades. Prior to his introduction, Marlboro owned just 1% of the tobacco market share. After his creation, that number climbed to 40% within about 3-5 years. Four of the five Marlboro men died of lung cancer or lung-related diseases (the one that survived never actually smoked the cigarettes he advertised). Prior to their deaths, many of them became anti-smoking advocates.