1978 Topps Giants Team “Marlboro” card
 

This is more of a, had you ever noticed? post.

I was sorting through my 1978 topps and realized for the first time that the Giants team checklist card #82 has the Marlboro cigarette ad in the background. In 1989, fleer went through great lengths to airbrush/remove the same type of ad from the background of Randy Johnson’s rookie card. In the span of 12 years people went from who cares to oh no. What a difference a decade made, huh?

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I never noticed that before. Thanks for posting. Of course, I now need to go grab a cigarette even though I don't smoke (thanks a lot). :mad:

Don't worry Joe. If Bob's been subliminally impacted by that card he will more likely buy a watch that smoke a cigarette

There's also a Marlboro sign in the background of the 78 Phil Niekro.

By golly, you’re right!


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By far the worst attempt to slip in an unpaid product placement was Philip Morris' effort to photo-bomb Mickey Mantle's 1952 card...

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Man, I remember looking at that scoreboard so many times. Also like the cable car used as a background in the photo-shoot.

PS- I remember a lot worse things happening at Candlestick than some ol' cigarette sign...

I don't know exactly when, but there was a law that was either new or that became prominent around 1989 that essentially banned tobacco advertising on anything marketed primarily to kids.

So the Logos had to be removed from cards, which wasn't a huge problem.
For the diecast nascar fans though.. It was a pretty big deal. many of the racing champions cars could have the sponsors logo, sort of like having all the team logos airbrushed off a card.

On this '77 Topps card, you can see the Malboro logo on the billboard at Yankee Stadium has been intentionally blacked out... at what appears to be varying degrees. My guess as to why the '78 Giants card was not blacked out is because the entire name was not visible in the image.