The Marlboro Man portrays a rough and rugged individual smoking the Marlboro product. The implication in this is that you will be rough and tough too if you use their product. By getting the public to think about good, healthy, or interesting things like this, many companies sell their attitude rather than their products. Another factor that we looked at was the idea of authority in this issue. President Clinton, Congress, Senator McCain, and Steven Goldstone all play the role of authority figures.
Authority easily influences many people.
However, in this issue, the public and the tobacco industry are very reluctant to listen directly to the authority. This is a very colorful issue and it is not easy to come up with a quick and easy decision. Clinton used his position in the presidency to influence the public by speaking to high school students in Kentucky about the dangers of smoking. We can all imagine that Clinton was not trying to actually make these particular people stop smoking, but instead he was trying to alert the media and show the American people that he is working on this issue. Senator McCain and Congress are stretching their legs by declaring that they will pass a bill with or without the tobacco industry's help in order to curb kids' smoking.