Menken’s, Macy’s, and America

As we know, everything in America is bigger, better, and more easily accessible. But, where did this need for the one-stop shop begin? In Mad Men, Rachel Menken’s department store ‘Menken’s’ has troubles advertising and so they turn to Sterling Cooper to help. Yet, not all department stores had such trouble advertising. The evolution of the department store is one intimately tied to America and the vast variety of department stores reflects America’s need to facilitate shopping in the era of the housewife. 

In 1858 Rowland Hussey Macy open up the “fancy dry goods” store under the company Macy & Co on sixth avenue in New York City. It was one of the first departments stores to open in America, and even to this day it is one of the most popular. Albeit a precursor to the modern day department store, the “fancy dry goods” store did not sell exclusively clothes, but rather they sold tools for embroidery, in addition to carpets, oil, and cloaks As Macy’s progressed into the fashion giant that it is today, it left behind it’s multipurpose business to transition into clothing.

Image credit: http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/herald-square/

In 1864 Macy’s began to use elaborate window displays, and created the idea of the ‘window shopper’. This newfangled and direct way of advertising relied on impulse buying. By presenting their most beautiful new garments directly in the window, the everyday person walking by can be taken aback by the fancy designs and can be enticed to enter and buy. This new advertising method has been recreated all over the world, and nowadays one expects window displays to be showy, extravagant, and flawless. 

Image credit: http://www.cityprofile.com/new-york/macys-department-store.html

In 1924 the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was born. Through their strategic name placement, Macy’s became a household name, and their advertising infiltrated the America psyche.  This classic American tradition was characterized by the ever-famous department store, and thus continued their brilliant advertising. 

For department stores, advertising is almost as important as product. If it were not for commercials and window displays and strategic sponsorship, Macy’s would not have become the powerhouse of fashion that is now is. 

Links referenced: http://www1.macys.com/store/about/history/index.jsp 

Swag Men: How the Clothes of Mad Men Changed Television and Our World

Before I had any inclination to watch or understand it, I genuinely believed that the new television sensation ‘Mad Men’ was about fashion.  You can’t blame me, considering that every Sunday my mom raved not about the characters but how fabulous the costumes that “Don” and “Joan” had worn were, or that each article I saw in USA Today or Rolling Stone emphasized Betty Draper’s clothes over plot notes. While I eventually learned the advertising nature of the show, it is still impossible to deny the sheer power of the clothes in Mad Men- after all, nothing that Walter White or Dexter Morgan has done has had anywhere near the impact of what Don Draper and friends WEAR.

The 60s have come roaring back, and the old look is the new look

Image:http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=677&tbm=isch&tbnid=ewfJWsLugmPz0M:&imgrefurl=http://thefashpack.onsugar.com/

A lot of theories have been generated about why Don Draper and the executives at Sterling Cooper are what “every man wants to be.”  Popular ones include the women, the drinks, the money, and the status.  But money and drinking are cross professional and generational, and adultery isn’t exactly glamorous anymore.  But the resurgence in 1960s wear that led Banana Republic and Express to create their whole fall lines after the fashions of ‘Mad Men?’  That can’t be a coincidence.  Clothes are everything that these men embody: the quality of clothes points to their wealth and position, their style lends to social situations like drinking, and their exuberant swagger from their fancy fashions leads to attraction from women.  The snugger fits, better ties and undershirts, and contrasting colors have been ripped off of AMC and put on every stylish man today. The fashions of women like Joan and Betty are what makes these characters truly universal- yes, both are beautiful and relatable, but in very different ways. The thread connecting this admirable appearance is the 1960s combinations of tight dresses, subtle accessories, and striking colors that have infiltrated 21^st century society after years of grunge jeans and shiny, post 9/11 era overexuberance.

The characters of Mad Men exude fashion sense that has crossed into our world.  Swag! 

Image credit: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/08/13/mad.men.fashion/index.html

The characters and plot of Mad Men have certainly become memorable, but not on the sheer level of something like The Sopranos or The West Wing. The everlasting power of this show comes when First Lady Michelle Obama spends her time around the inauguration of her husband wearing one strap dresses inspired by Christina Hendricks treads on the show.  It is when Ask Men models a style guide for their large readership after the suits in the show.  And it is reflected on a personal level for me, when I went prom suit shopping.  I was dismayed to find that Banana Republic’s Mad Men line of blue suits was far too expensive for my blood, but when I combined another Mad Men navy blue line from Billy London with a pink shirt and colored bow tie from my father’s 1960 collection, I was quickly the best dressed man at the prom.  Long gone are the days of oversized, shiny suits and baggy dresses from the Steve Harvey collection.  The 1960s have come roaring back, and now the entire planet has become GQ and Vanity Fair. We may never have the drinks, the money, the lovers, or the ads, but with the clothes, we can all be Mad Men. 

Links referenced:

http://www.askmen.com/fashion/trends_700/742_mad-men-style.html

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/fashion-file/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/leahbourne/2012/03/22/the-mad-men-fashion-effect/

http://www.fabsugar.com/Banana-Republic-Mad-Men-Collection-Spring-2012-Pictures-21871047

"Slug Bug, No Slug Back!"

Many view the Volkswagen (VW) Beetle, first built by the Germans in 1931, as an ugly or delicate type car, but fact trumps over everything.  The Volkswagen Beetle is actually the bestselling and longest lived car in the history of the automobile industry. In the first season of the AMC television series Mad Men, Episode 3, the guests at Bobby's birthday party (Carlton, Chet and Jack) are caught making fun of Helen Bishop for driving a Volkswagen Beetle. In the episode there is a reference made by Chet at the party by saying, "The last time I saw one of those things (Volkswagen) I was throwing a grenade into it." This line, although it seems of no significance, is actually quite informative.  The history of the beetle car is an interesting one.  It actually began being produced in the 1930's and it was used exclusively by Nazi Germany in World War II.  This is why it is believed that the beetle car actually had a lot of trouble selling when it first was released into the world market. 

Image credit: http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/7d7d2a8cb6204602e8ad0afd0a8b16f0442bbc73_m.gif

 

The car that was at first most hated by just about everyone around the world turned it around and became the bestselling car in the automotive industry, even beating Ford's Model T.  How could this possibly happen?  One word: Advertisement. During the 1960's the Beetle had just started to become quite a bit popular through witty advertisement. In Benjamin Preston's article "The VW Beetle Started with the Nazis, Boomed under MadMen and Died in Mexico," he mentions the low points and how it managed through advertisement to reach a bestselling status. In the television series Mad Men, Episode 3 Marriage at Figaro, Don discusses the VW Beetle with his coworkers. They are trying to find something wrong with the famous "Lemon" VW ad.  The guys can't seem to find a thing and Don says, “Love it or hate it (The Ad), the fact is we have been talking about this for the last 15 minutes." This is the type of advertising that brought the VW out of being just about bankrupt to being one of the most successful car industries in the world. 

Image credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6GebuQC08QFyvZ9A90ZoG-4UOCOYNioEzedI8uVZu47EyKVS1RnN_HSJFeM97SfQjr6wizW9kNnKP6e5wjW5L1WHxi_xeSn4TnLAXMAgERT4qaQW4WOf0-lK2MvDq1ggqLWvYdB8suRI/s1600/HitlerPorscheVW1938.png

 

The beetle in present day is actually looked at as an affordable and economical car. Nowadays, most people couldn't tell you that the beetle was first produced by the Nazi's. In fact today the VW Beetle has grown so popular today that even kids play games with relation to it. VW still dedicates a lot of time and money towards advertisement. VW always has an ad during the super bowl, which is considered the best time in the world to advertise.  VW is a company that has made one of the greatest comebacks of all time.  They did this not through a bail out or through creating something new, but through advertisement. Don portrays this type of effective advertisement when he presents his pitch on The Wheel. Don takes something seemingly useless and turns it into a present day slide show of pictures.  

Links referenced:

http://jalopnik.com/5917545/the-vw-beetle-started-with-nazis-boomed-under-mad-men-and-died-in-mexico

http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/7d7d2a8cb6204602e8ad0afd0a8b16f0442bbc73_m.gif

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6GebuQC08QFyvZ9A90ZoG-4UOCOYNioEzedI8uVZu47EyKVS1RnN_HSJFeM97SfQjr6wizW9kNnKP6e5wjW5L1WHxi_xeSn4TnLAXMAgERT4qaQW4WOf0-lK2MvDq1ggqLWvYdB8suRI/s1600/HitlerPorscheVW1938.png

 

Evolution of Advertising: Gillette

Advertising plays such a large role in present day consumerist America. For example, the National Football League’s Super Bowl, arguably the largest sporting event in 21^st century, draws a lot of viewers just for the advertisements. When it comes to advertising, however, the target audience is a key factor that is discussed. In episode 2 “Ladies Room” of AMC’s Mad Men, the boys of Sterling Cooper’s creative department are introduced to a new innovation. This innovation is not only important for the world of advertising but also for daily life in general, and it comes in the form of an aerosol spray can. The product in which that episode’s pitch was centered around was the new Right Guard antiperspirant spray deodorant. Although spray deodorant is very conventional today with the sex-appeal targeting advertisement of AXE, it was difficult for Ken Cosgrove, Paul Kinsey, and Salvatore Romano to find a suitable advertising pitch as Right Guard was the first aerosol spray deodorant. However, by taking a look at Sterling Cooper’s Right Guard campaign, we not only see the evolution of advertisements by Gillette but we also see the progression of advertisement methods in America as a whole. 

 

Image credit: http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/axe-deodorant-axe-tarzan-11283205/ 

(A modern AXE advertisement as depicted above. The target audience for the present day body spray is male with a strong focus on the female sex appeal.)

Gillette started as a company specifically for men’s grooming needs. It later targeted women as well, and towards the latter half of the 20^th century it ventured into the market of Toiletries. Gillette’s Right Guard antiperspirant deodorant spray was an innovation for the toiletries sector, and thus innovation was the key concept for Sterling Cooper’s creative department’s pitch in “Ladies Room.” As Paul Kinsey praises the Right Guard spray-can as a “rocket” and a “space age...engineering marvel”, Donald Draper, head of the creative department, comments that Paul needs to look at the target consumer who will physically buy the Right Guard spray-can. During 1960s America men occupied more of the high paying jobs than women did. A majority of the labor force was men, and while the men worked, the women would stay at home and do the household shopping (refer to the chart for statistical information). Thus, Donald Draper regarded how the advertisements for the first Right Guard spray deodorant should target the women buying the product and not the men. This advertisement campaign held true for the time period in real life as well.  
 

The advertisement above is a magazine spread. During 1960s America, magazine spread advertisements played a major role in gaining public attention for a product. Although they play a role in today’s advertisement market, they are not as large as the television/media market for advertising. Although as seen in the ad above, Right Guard still does target women today, it mainly targets the male market for which the product is optimized for. 

 Image credit: http://captainwine.blogspot.com/2011/08/5-critical-comment-1.html

Seen in this advertisement video from present day America, Gillette has changed its Right Guard ad to target the different cultural norms and mentality of the 21^st century. With Mad Men as a lens, we are able to see the evolution of advertising from 1960s America to the present day through a company that has successfully thrived through diversifying its advertisement methods based on the changing of time periods. Keep on the cutting edge Gillette!

Articles referenced: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-gillette-company-history/ 

http://anti-perspirant.info/history_of_antiperspirants/ 

http://www.enotes.com/antiperspirant-deodorant-stick-reference/antiperspirant-deodorant-stick

 

"People Were Buying Cigarettes Before Freud Was Born"

It seems as though there isn't a single scene in Mad Men, where a cigarette isn't lit. Donald Draper sits on his office couch with his arm draped over the back with a cigarette in hand. Betty Draper rests at home with a glass of wine and a cigarette in hand. Peggy Olsen lights up a cigarette at a dinner date, even though she does not smoke. The countless examples of smoking in Mad Men display how in the 1950s and early 1960s, cigarettes were a staple of American culture. Although meant as a luxury good in its early days, cigarettes had already reached mass production by the 1950s. The urban elite were not the only ones smoking cigarettes, anyone could get their hands on one. Cigarettes were cheap to buy and socially accepted at any location and occasion. Don is always seen smoking at his office, his fancy restaurants and parties, and on the train home. Smoking was allowed on planes, trains, buses, offices, restaurants, schools, and almost any public area you can think of. Hollywood glamorized smoking with celebrities, such as James Dean, the man who always had his cigarette, and Audrey Hepburn, who made smoking classy and sophisticated. 

Image credit: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1118/1441344538_c8ffe03ac4_o.jpg)

  Image credit:  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_w7a1VcAua9M/TRsJSWv7ZwI/AAAAAAAAEOw/72BMkyE6DbA/s1600/james_dean+%25289%2529.jpg)

Which brands were the most popular? Lucky Strike is most commonly smoked in Mad Men since Sterling Cooper has an account with them. Some of the most popular brands in the 1950s and 1960s included Lucky Strike, Marlboro, Camel, Pall Mall, Parliament, Salem, Newport, Winston, Kent, Viceroy, Kool and more. Cigarettes advertisements depicted them as part of American life and played on the aspects of being a man or a sophisticated woman, having fun, and relaxing. Just as Don may be smoking because he’s a man, Betty may be smoking because she's stressed, and Peggy may be smoking to fit in. Cigarette brands used celebrity and athlete endorsements, cartoon characters, politicians, children, and even medical professionals to sell their product. In the episode, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” Don knows that even though a magazine called Reader’s Digest claims that cigarettes are dangerous, people would still buy them; Sterling Cooper just can’t advertise physicians claiming they are safe anymore.

Here is an advertisement for Camel cigarettes preposterously trying to make you feel better about smoking since your doctor loves it too.

Image credit: (http://www.unsoughtinput.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/gra_bdoctor.jpg) 

This is an advertisement for Marlboro in the 1960s, hinting that smoking Marlboro cigarettes will make you feel like the rugged man that you want to be.

Image credit: (http://morningcigarette.com/images/block/Marlboro%20Cigarettes.%20Advertising%20in%201967%207.jpg)

Alas, since the word spread about cigarettes being dangerous and the efforts began in the 1970s, the government has heavily regulated cigarette advertisements, added warnings and images to packaging, and banned or limited the places you are allowed to smoke. Back in the “Mad Men” days, however, smoking was not even given a second thought. Light another one, Mr. Draper. It’s toasted.

Links referenced:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/business/media/07adco.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/01/tobacco-industry-marketing

Things Go Better With Coke

It’s always exciting to watch Mad Men and recognize a product that the men of Sterling Cooper are advertising. Such was the case when Coca-Cola showed up in the episode “Shoot." Though Don and his cohorts weren’t the ones thinking of witty slogans for this bubbly beverage, Betty did get to model for the company posing as the happy housewife that she is. 

Image credit: http://contemplatingmedia.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/mad-men-season-one-episode-9-shoot/

Coca-Cola has been a prevalent company since the 19^th century and the 1960s were no exception. Coca-Cola was a growing enterprise and had just introduced canned coke in 1955. Advertising was working on expanding Coke’s markets by adding new drinks like Fanta, Sprite, and Fresca as well as purchasing The Minute Maid Company. Many of their advertisements showed happy women, families, and young people enjoying their life moments with a signature Coke bottle in hand. The popular slogan for the decade was “Things Go Better With Coke."

Image Credit: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6237/6227315703_1954291ea5_z.jpg

Advertising agencies' marketing methods progressed along with the American television-watching society. While photo ads were still important, television commercials were becoming popular. Coke's new television spots were light, up beat, and showed how easily the beverage could make a person happy.  

Coca-Cola advertising became an American symbol and could be found everywhere. In 1961, the comedy film, “One, Two, Three” premiered starring Jimmy Cagney in a Coca-Cola bottling facility during the Cold War; the film was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Coke also sponsored the first animated TV special for the cartoon “Peanuts” in the 1965 holiday season. Beyond the television market, Coke was still prevalent in radio in the mid-sixties. A radio campaign featured various artists singing Coca-Cola jingles aimed toward the young American audience. Some artists recorded were Jay and the Americans, Roy Orbison, and Petula Clark.

Today, Coca-Cola may use different methods to target audiences, but the company is still known for the happiness it brings to its customers. 

Links referenced:

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/pdf/Coca-Cola_125_years_booklet.pdf

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gkVkCzLvq5Y/UAmx28PBRNI/AAAAAAAAAGA/SFlUdytZ8wE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-07-20+at+1.30.54+PM.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#20th_century_landmarks

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ccmphtml/colahist.html

An Inaccurate Portrayal: Homosexuality in Advertising

Image credit: afterelton.com

In May of 2012, David Leddick wrote an article for the Huffington Post entitled, “Being Gay in the World of Mad, Mad Men: What It Was Really Like." Leddick’s article contests the idea that Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt) is an anomaly in the advertising business because of his homosexuality. He contests also, the anti-gay opinion of the advertising world of Mad Men. As Leddick was an openly gay, junior writer in the 1960’s, he seems well qualified to make these assertions. However, Leddick’s generalizations about gay men and advertising take away from his point. Both David Leddick, and Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men, however, seem to be at least, partially right in their differing portrayals of gay men in advertising.

Throughout the article, Reddick recounts his many successes in advertising, notably with Revlon. In reference to clients of his, “they didn't have time to care about what other people did in bed. They only cared about what you did in the office." Leddick substantiates these claims with his high salaries and examples of his achievement that continued to rise despite his sexuality. His article is refreshingly uplifting compared to Mad Men. His article exudes a feeling of freedom, at one point stating, “If you can do it, you can be it." Leddick also describes the openly gay environment at a particular agency in which he worked, stating that, “all the art directors were gay” and that “the gay men on staff knew everything there was to know at the time about clothes, interior décor, you name it."

It is these generalizations, which continue to occur throughout the article, that ruin Leddick’s point. If Weiner was close minded to the reality of openly gay men in advertising, then Leddick is equally close minded to the possibility of there being closeted gay men in advertising, or even New York City for that matter, stating, “If you were gay in New York, you didn't need to run around hiding it." And even Leddick concedes that “stuffy, old-line agencies […] the big ones” discriminated based on homosexuality. Though Sterling Cooper is not among these companies, it is not completely out of question to believe that intolerance existed in this world as well. Though Matthew Weiner may be naïve to the possibility of openly gay men in advertising, his goal is not to represent strictly the Madison Avenue advertisers and their lives. Weiner uses Mad Men as an outlet to represent the unrest and injustice of the sixties as a whole. Through this Weiner is able to stress sense of sin and hostility toward homosexuality, feelings which were not uncommon during the time period. After all, it was considered an illness until 1973.

Ultimately, though Leddick provides an uplifting and direct account of gay advertising in the sixties, he shows us only one glimpse into a world which involved thousands of individuals, as well as remaining unmindful of the purpose of Mad Men as a show.

Mad Men and Environmentalism

Don Draper has done some things that are pretty shocking to a modern audience - the smoking, the drinking, the philandering, but littering? Unfortunately, Don’s actions were more or less the norm for the time period. America, along with most of the world, was a polluted mess in the early 1960s; there was widespread littering, polluting, burning of fossil fuels (Don’s Coup De Ville got about 8 MPGs city), and most importantly almost no regulation to prevent these things from happening. The air was thick with smog, and the highways were littered with trash.

However, in 1963, one lady decided to try and stop all this. Her name was Lady Bird Johnson, and her goal was to make America just a little bit prettier. Although she was not an environmentalist, per se, she did want to give the Don Drapers of the world a nicer place to have a picnic. Most of her efforts involved the cleaning up of highways. She helped to reduce the number of billboards and junkyards along interstates and planted wild flowers in the medians. She then joined an organization called Keep America Beautiful, who were the first to fight against littering (they also coined the term “litterbug”). Although they certainly would not have liked Don’s littering, they may have enlisted the help of Sterling Cooper. These guys loved advertising and had some of the most famous PSAs of all time. Like this one:



Image credit: http://www.keepvirginiabeautiful.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/litterbug.jpg

Or this really famous one: http://www.youtube.com/embed/m4ozVMxzNAA.

It is thanks to the efforts of the First Lady that the idea of littering is so foreign today. Honestly, there just was not a concept of environment back then. People were stuck in their little 1950s bubble of naivety and, like Don, did not take a lot of time to contemplate the consequences of their actions.

Links referenced: http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=kab_history


http://www.pbs.org/ladybird/shattereddreams/shattereddreams_report.html

George Lewis Hates Mad Men

In an interview on the website Big Think George Louis, a famous ad man of the 60s recalls his early years from his graduation from the High School of Music and Arts, his time at Pratt University, where he met his future wife on his first day. Although he disliked his time at Pratt, he stayed to be with his future wife. He was told by one of his teachers that he didn’t need anymore schooling and was given the name of a woman who would give him his first job. After being drafted during the Korean War he joined CBS only to leave some time later. He went on to work at many unsuccessful advertising jobs before working with advertising greats such as Doyle Dane Bernbach and Bill Bernbach. He then left Doyle Dane Bernbach to start the second creative advertising agency.



The interview proceeds with the question of how accurate Mad Men is to the atmosphere in the 60s. Louis talks about a call he received from one of the producers of Mad Men who called him because his named had come up many times while they were interviewing the original mad men of the 60s. Louis, angered by the producers lack of knowledge of him or what he had done in the 60s tells him to look for his book Be Careful George which illustrates his growing up in New York to his founding of the second creative agency. Louis is later called back by the producer who, after reading the book, is astonished about all it contains saying “Oh, Jesus, wow, we could have done the show on that!"
 
In the interview George Louis gives a good summary of his early life as a budding designer and ad man in New York. Although the article gives a first hand account of the 60s from one of the founders of New York creative agencies, his hate for the show Mad Men seems more placed on the fact that he was offended the producers did not know who he was or come to him first. Whether or not the show is an accurate portrayal of the advertising firms of the 60s, it is a drama, not a History Channel documentary. At the end of the day, accurate or not, the show does what it’s meant to do, entertain.

Although you cannot read this tourism advertisement, the images are quite clear. In the first picture, under the title "the La Costa Idea...," there is a woman laying out in the sun with a palm tree in the background. The picture to its right is a man with a fish, most likely caught by him, that is twice the man's size. Underneath him is a woman in the middle of playing tennis. To the left of her is a man possibly surfing. On the next page there are two people riding horses; it seems as if one is a man and one is a woman. Underneath is a couple going sailing. Below that are a group of men golfing, and finally, there is a picture of a specific hotel or cabin that this advertisement is sponsoring. 
       
This advertisement is quite straightforward. Although it is not an advertisement for California in a general manner, it is still a representation of the way it is portrayed. For example, the first image that is viewed on this ad is the woman laying down in a bikini, in the sun, and with a palm tree behind her. It is interesting because it seems as if it is trying to make California seem like a getaway. There are many places to go on vacation, but California is one of the only places where people go to sit in the sun and, as some would say, "chill." Not only that, but they put the woman at the threshold of the image and the palm tree and any form of land in the background to show that, when in California, one's surroundings do no matter, nothing matters. It is a carefree place. In all the other pictures, there is a similar idea shown. For example, the fish that the man obviously caught would rarely ever be caught by any fisherman, but it is trying to send the overpowering and always sought out idea of freedom and endless possibilities. Although there are images of people alone and relaxed, there are very few images of couples together; this idea can be tied back to Don Draper because whenever he goes to California he is not with his wife. Although he is with Anna Draper a lot of the time in future episodes, it is generally a place of escape for him. For example, when he goes to California with Peter Campbell, he ends up leaving him and going to stay with an unknown and "sketchy" family for a while. This California venture is a symbol of the way that all characters in the film and actual people in the time generalized it as; many characters talk about California like it is a different country to vacate to, and that's what people made of it. 

Links referenced: "Vintage Travel and Tourism Ads of the 1960s (Page 26)." Vintage Ad Browser. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.

On the Psychology of Madison Avenue

In Adam Curtis’s “EXPERIMENTS IN THE LABORATORY OF CONSUMERISM 1959-67”, we are given a brief account of the two warring camps on Madison Avenue and the individuals pivotal to this era in mass market consumerism. Particularly, we are given some of the major figureheads which some Mad Men characters are based on. For instance, one warring camp called the “USP” or “unique selling point” had the perspective that an advertisement should have one particular trait that “penetrated” the masses and created a sense of brand loyalty. By doing so, this product would, according to this philosophy, stand out the most. This was an idea enumerated by Rosser Reever who coined the term “It’s toasted” for Lucky Strike and serves as inspiration for Donald Draper. On the other hand, there is an account of the “Motivational Research” which was rooted in psychology. One such example was the “empathy” technique which elicited feelings of connection with the consumer and the product. This field was particularly influenced by the post Viennese generation of Freudians who came to the USA. One, Dr. Herzog, stands as the most important, and she was later parodied by the doctor in the first episode. Then there comes the inspiration for Peggy Olsen which was based off a girl a young and rising copy writer who wrote numerous ads for women’s products. Finally there is a brief discussion of Bill Bernach and his brand of “anti-advertising” which was a satire of the consumerism at the time and strove to link public mistrust with advertisements. For example, the “lemon” Volkswagen Beetle that Don does not like uses this technique. It employs the distaste of a used car and reverses the expectations of the consumer as it captures their attention.



I knew of Curtis’s research on consumerism after I watched his documentary called A Century of the Self which outlined the various psychological theories in the advertising world after Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, started to work and incorporate his Uncle’s ideas of the unconscious and animalistic drives into mass media. Though the article contains a wealth of information and useful images of products to further explicate the point of this past history, it does sometime lose its focus within the thesis on the Madison Avenue individuals. Throughout the article, one notices that the author sometimes loses his focus as he tries to bring in more and more people to talk about. One notices that there are references to modern TV shows and other advertisement agencies which have no correlation to Madison Avenue. For some reason, the author chose to even reference an actor who plays a role in the TV vampire drama, Buffy the Vampire Slayer because he uses the phrase “ka-ching” in a television ad. In this case, it is evident that Curtis brings superfluous evidence to this article.

Still, the article is strong as it stands as a useful foundation for new viewers of this show. One is able to understand and appreciate the parallels that Matthew Wiener incorporated within this drama. Moreover, understanding the subtle psychological and selling techniques that maybe lost to a new viewer provides for a deeper and richer experience.

Sources referenced: "EXPERIMENTS IN THE LABORATORY OF CONSUMERISM 1959-67." Web log post. The Medium and the Message. Ed. Adam Curtis. BBC, 20 Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2011.

Put That In Your Pipe and Smoke It

John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in the summer of 1960 used Jackie Kennedy Onassis, his wife, as a key figure. Beautiful and well-spoken, she was known to the nation already as a fashion icon. In an effort to reach out to the Spanish-speaking voters, she filmed a commercial for Kennedy entirely in Spanish, as shown above. In it she says:

“Dear Friends, the wife of senator John Kennedy, candidate for the US Presidency, is talking to you. In these very dangerous times, when the World peace is threatened by Communism, it is necessary to have in the White House a leader able to guide our destinies with a firm hand. My husband has always cared for the interests of all the portion of our society who need the protection of the monetary government. For the future of our children and to reach a world where true peace shall exist Vote for the Democratic party on the 8th of November. Long live Kennedy!”

Since Sterling Cooper is running the advertising campaign for Nixon during this election, Harry Crane is charged with keeping tabs on the television ads for the opposing candidate. As soon as this reaches the Sterling Cooper boardroom, in Episode 9 of Season 1 (“Shoot”), they begin discussing damage control. Ken complains “I don’t understand it,” and Paul Kinsey’s retort is, aptly, “Because it’s in Spanish.” This quick boys’ club exchange passes quickly because morale is rather low, especially when Don points out that Nixon’s eight-point lead in the polls “isn’t much.”

Mad Men shows the election from the perspective of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency so as to make viewers think about just how influential television was in the election, for the first time ever. Today, we expect to see campaign advertisements on almost every commercial break in the last few weeks leading up to a presidential election. In 1960, advertising agencies were paving the way for the first ever televised presidential election, with the debate as the main event. Some will even argue that, had the debate not been televised, Nixon would not have come across so poorly in it. Had television not been a factor in the election at all, Nixon might have served his presidential term long before the Watergate scandal. Imagine that next time you see a political ad on television.

Links consulted: "Jackie Kennedy Speaks Spanish"

The Death of Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man

In the latter part of the fourth season of AMC’s Mad Men, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce experiences the loss of their most important and loyal client, Lucky Strike cigarettes. Losing this massive account caused the firm to scramble looking for ways to drum up enough business to stay afloat, so Don Draper boldly took out a full-page ad in The New York Times declaring that SCDP would no longer accept tobacco accounts and that the company would no longer create advertisements for potentially harmful products. Although this unanticipated and risky move by Draper was frowned upon unanimously by his associates, it seems, in retrospect, that getting out of the tobacco game was a very well-timed gambit on his part.

In the 1950’s and early 1960’s, tobacco companies were frequent sponsors of television programs and sporting events whose advertisements were ubiquitous in daily American life. Slogans like “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”, “Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!” (itself created by oft-referenced SCDP rival firm BBDO), and “Winstons taste good like a cigarette should” captivated a nation where smoking was commonplace and widely accepted. However, as scientific evidence revealed that smoking caused cancer and numerous other health problems, lawmakers received increased pressure to lessen the presence of tobacco in media. This pressure culminated in the passage of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1970 by the US Congress, which banned all television and radio advertisements for cigarettes, relegating them to existing only in such media as magazines, newspapers, and billboards. Since then, even more strict restrictions have been placed on cigarette advertisements. Under the recent Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act, tobacco companies are banned from sponsoring sports or music events or place their logos on articles of clothing. Eventually, this law is going to require that tobacco advertisements consist of only black text on a white background except for in certain “Adult-oriented” publications. It’s hard to imagine even Don Draper being able to do something with that.

Sources: "Tobacco Advertising" and "New FDA Rules Take the Fun Out of Cigarette Advertising"