Many current Marlboro cigarette smokers would not believe that their favorite brand was once targeted to women. However, it was, as was the most of the filtered cigarettes brands before 1950s. Marlboro, a brand created in 1924, initially built its image as a feminine, apparently “safer” due to the filter, light cigarette. “Mild As May,” sold in white boxes with a lot of copy appealing to women and featuring special, red cellulose around the filter to hide the lipstick stains Marlboro targeted young women.