It has always been an aim of this course to look at aspects of American popular culture as a reflection of the American psyche. Given that we have now covered a good deal of the nation's history, as promised, we will now begin to look more closely at one example of this popular culture -- the television series Mad Men. Because we are only going to watch a few episodes out of seven years of programming, it is necessary for me to fill in a few blanks in the story that will help you make sense of things as we jump from one season to another. In simple terms, this means that below starting with the "Who is Don Draper?" section, there are a few spoilers. My advice -- Deal with it. It's not going to ruin your life and believe me, Don, Roger and the rest of the gang have plenty of other surprises up their sleeves to keep you watching if you get hooked and absolutely have to watch the entire series.
Why Mad Men?
In part, Mad Men provides insight into America at the height of American exceptionalism and then beyond. It is set in the late 1950's through the 60's, a transitional time for the country. During the first three seasons of the series we see a nation that is still basking in the afterglow of saving the world from Nazi tyranny, flexing its considerable industrial muscle to at once rebuild a world shattered by war and spread the "good life" into the suburbs of its cities at home -- all the while maintaining and upgrading its military capacity for a newfound geopolitical purpose as defender of the free world in the struggle against Soviet communist hegemony. It is a time of great pride and patriotism. We see this reflected in the show's characters who exhibit a constructivist, can do attitude that is highly ambitious and largely accepting of prevailing social attitudes and norms.
Gradually, as the series moves into its second half we see that confidence and sameness of purpose eroding as social and racial conflicts percolate on the home front and beyond to geopolitics. In 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy declared America's willingness to, "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty. " By 1966, as the price paid in Vietnam continues to mount, the American firmness of purpose in the Cold War is waning. The President who so confidently defined that commitment in the fight against communism -- a man who embodied what the country was about and where it was going-- young, raising young children, comfortable in his own skin, sure of the country's place in the world and glowing with the purpose to boldly seek out challenges -- that man was gone and with him the constructivist, can do attitude focused on moving onward and upward, accepting of conventional wisdom and traditional social attitudes was also gone. Consequently we see rising conflicts between the characters in the world of Mad Men too.
Mad Men is also centered on the advertising world, a world that occupies a significant portion of the American consciousness. Advertisers promote consumerism and in this era it's not just about the pursuit of the "good life" - in late 50's/early 60's Cold War America it's about the validation of capitalism and the indictment of communism; the celebration of individualism and the rejection of collectivism. In short, in the back of every advertiser's mind is the idea that consumerism shows what we have, and they don't -- and the fact we have more, proves we live better -- and because we live better, our system is better (political, economic, social) -- and that means the more of a consumer you are, the more American you are -- and the more American you are, the more of a patriot you are -- and the more of a patriot you are, the more you are doing your part to fight for a free world. That's a pretty fertile environment to work in as an advertiser -- not only is your work important but it may in fact be existential! No wonder firms invested what they did to sell their products.
Why Mad Men? (The Name)
The series is set with a focus on Sterling Cooper, a boutique advertising firm on New York's Madison Avenue, known as the center of the advertising universe. The men who worked there called themselves "Mad Men" in reference to the "work hard, play hard" culture. The term celebrated excess and the revenue they generated was, in their minds, validation for their existence. The television show clearly puts a lot of bad behavior on display, but it also has a way of showing the unavoidable costs of such behavior -- sooner or later.
Here are two quick looks at the history of Madison Avenue as a force in the advertising world.
https://www.advertisingweek360.com/a-history-of-new-york-advertising/
https://americanhistory.si.edu/advertising-business/madison-avenue
Who is Don Draper?
The main character of the Mad Men series is Don Draper. But that's not the whole story. Don Draper is actually Dick Whitman. Dick volunteered to go fight in Korea and after being under enemy fire for the first time, he accidentally dropped a lighter igniting gasoline that had run into the trench he and the real Don Draper, his CO were occupying. Don Draper was killed by the blast and Dick Whitman, desperate to escape his own life back home (that's another story) switched his dog tags with Don, knowing Don was near the end of his tour of duty.
This secret comes back to task him several times over the course of his life, resulting in interminable guilt, sometimes paralyzing fear that he will be imprisoned as a deserter, and the loss of a lucrative business contract that requires a security check for all company executives. It does, however, also result in a close friendship with the real Don Draper's widow, Anna who finds Dick living his life under Don's identity when she is searching for her husband who she thinks has abandoned her after returning from the war. Dick tells her the truth, commits to supporting her and Anna becomes, in Dick's estimation, the only person who truly knew him. Anna Draper divorces Don (Dick) in order to allow him to marry Betty and start a new life for himself. Anna and Don remain close until her death from bone cancer, which is a devastating loss for Don.
In Dick's creation of the Don Draper persona he outwardly becomes the ideal of what he believes the quintessential American man ought to be -- an image no doubt in part formed out of the advertising Dick grows up with -- and as Don Draper he outwardly lives the American Dream. But inwardly, Don suffers from his unresolved conflicts about his childhood, his dissatisfaction with Betty and his suburban existence, his guilt over stealing another man's identity to escape his childhood family where he never felt love or belonging. Don immerses himself in the trappings of the American Dream in search of a happiness that he never finds because underneath the polished persona, Don the man has no real connection to anything or anyone.
Don does have virtues and he does have a strong sense of right and wrong, but he struggles to live up to those virtues when his own selfish impulses are motivated. And yet, precisely because of his virtues he is mercilessly tortured by his conscience making him feel entirely inadequate, a fraud and confirming in his own mind that he does not deserve to be loved.
Throughout the series, Don lives through plenty of changes in his life and some enormous peaks of truly amazing triumphs and valleys of inconsolable despair, but the only thing that remains steady and unswerving is his undeniable talent as an ad man -- he is most at home creating perceptions of how people see things. This of course, comes naturally to him because he lives a life creating perceptions about himself. How does he do this?
Through his professional life, Don tells stories and creates memories that form a folklore of legends -- a sort of mythology. Most literally that mythology represents the brand he is building. However, beneath his carefully constructed branding to sell resides an unmistakably American ethos -- the universally understood axioms that form the basis of what motivates us.
Ethos, according to The Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as "the characteristic spirit, prevalent tone of sentiment, of a people or community; the 'genius' of an institution or system", although it originally has its roots in the Greek word 'etho' or "to be accustomed to." S. Michael Halloran wrote that "the most concrete meaning given for the term in the Greek lexicon is 'a habitual gathering place.” Halloran continues further to deduce that such a description might conjure up images of shared ideas and experiences, thus fortifying it as the foundation of character.
To clarify, his reference to the meaning of ethos as a habitual gathering place draws more attention to an inferred, rather than literal meaning. In a place where one might gather often, the opportunity for developing communal values arises. Therefore, to be a good example of ethos, one must portray the types of traits that are most valued within a society.
America is a nation different from any other because it was founded on the basis of an idea. Because of its unique founding, one may be born in America but still has to become an American over time through an acculturation to its ethos of individual liberty, assertiveness, competitiveness, and the core elements of American exceptionalism - religiosity, industriousness, community life, and egalitarianism. Don's stories are firmly rooted in the American ethos. In effect, through his work Don is creating the legends and folklore that are part of the American mythology. He is selling Glo-Coat floor wax to be sure, but to do so he is selling America. And this is not lost on his clients. Hotelier Conrad Hilton tells Don that,"It is my purpose in life to bring America to the world, whether it likes it or not." In Don, Hilton has found precisely what he wants -- an ad man who blurs the lines between a campaign and a crusade.
See the link below for some background on the other major characters in the show:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/MadMenTheMainCharacters
Here is an article that features the real women who worked in advertising on Madison Avenue in the Mad Men era:
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-the-women-of-madison-avenue-really-looked-like-in-1963-2012-4
Here is an article about some of the best Madison Avenue advertising agencies as rated by a former advertising executive:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2016/02/02/the-15-agencies-i-admired-most-during-my-three-decades-on-madison-avenue/#4a6c948b32fb
McCann-Erickson is the giant firm that from time to time competes with Sterling Cooper and its successors, Sterling Cooper Draper Price and Sterling Cooper and Partners. McCann pursues Don Draper hard but Don hates the idea of working at the firm -- too big and impersonal and as a control enthusiast, Don feels he won't have the freedom and creative license that he craves. Here's a link to the real company, now known as McCann Worldgroup:
https://www.mccann.com
