Who is the Stranger?

After reading Byer’s essay, which focused around the Stranger, it got me thinking, who is he? The Stranger has been described as a representation of the Marlboro Man. I knew the Marlboro Man was an American cowboy used in advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes, but not much more. In order to get a better understanding of how the Marlboro Man is viewed, and therefore the Stranger, I did some research. The Marlboro Man campaign had a 45 year run extending from 1954 to 1999. The campaign showed a rugged cowboy with only a cigarette in nature. The campaign was a huge success, and successfully managed to turn the new “feminine filters” into a more manly image in just three months. From this research, it is clear why the Coen brothers put a character like the stranger into their movie. The Marlboro Man and the Stranger both represent traditional American cowboys, who are very popular with American males, the target audience of the movie.