By Cait Waas, Account Manager
I’m really excited for the season premier of Mad Men on AMC on Sunday.
To prepare, I took the following steps:
- I blocked off Sunday night at 10 p.m. in my Outlook calendar.
- I took the “Which Mad Man are you?” quiz (and was thrilled to find out I’m Joan).
- I made my Mad Men avatar as you can see from my photo.
I know I’m not alone. Last week I was at a party and when I mentioned I work in advertising, someone squealed “Ooooh, like Mad Men?”
From Banana Republic’s campaign to recent news articles to the sheer number of mentions on my friends’ Facebook and Twitter pages, I know I’m just a small part of the Mad Men mania. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve seen the #madmen hashtag on Twitter.
During Mad Men’s off season, I’ve been reflecting on the similarities and differences between Sterling Cooper and Travers Collins & Company (TC&C). Yes – I realize Sterling Cooper is a fictional 60s-era advertising agency on Madison Avenue, and TC&C is a modern-day marketing communications agency in Buffalo, so you may wonder how many similarities there can be (trust me, there are). As for the differences – there are days that I wish we were more like Sterling Cooper, and days that I’m glad that we’re TC&C.
Here’s what I like about Sterling Cooper (SC):
Fashion. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of business casual and cheered as loud as anyone when Bob & Bill instituted our casual Fridays jean policy two years ago. But there’s something to be said for three-piece suits, dresses, and shoe polish. Women wore their hair in updo’s every day. I still love when we have a major client meeting or new business pitch and everyone comes in dressed to the nines.
Leaving early every day. Is it just me, or does no one work late at Sterling Cooper? Every episode features the main characters leaving before 5 and heading straight to the bar on the corner.
Martini lunches. Not only does the staff at SC have daily martini lunches, but booze is a fringe benefit at the agency. Win a new account? Break out the Canadian Club. Lose an account? Bring on the J&B. Just sitting in your office with nothing to do? Have a cocktail.
That being said, there’s a lot about Sterling Cooper that I’m GLAD is not the case at TC&C:
“Girls.” There’s no easy way to put it – the treatment of women on the show (or “girls,” as they’re most often referred) is largely atrocious. When the show debuted, a few of my female colleagues could only watch so many episodes before getting turned off. Yes, Peggy & Joan have each carved out their own paths at SC, but not without tremendous effort and constant unequal treatment.
Prejudice. As Andy Denhart, entertainment contributor for msnbc.com, noted on Wednesday, “Bigotry (is) as much a part of the workplace as highball glasses and bottles of liquor.” Gender, race, religion and preference are all mentioned constantly. Part of the beauty of the show is that it accurately reflects attitudes and behaviors of the era – but that tends to make it a little hard to watch at times.
But I have to admit the great parts about the show far outweigh the cringe-worthy parts. It's a no-brainer for those of us in the advertising industry to follow the show - I know a lot of us tend to watch anything based on an advertising agency (remember the short lived Trust Me?). But even for non-ad folks, there's no denying the brilliance in the writing, acting, character development, and set & costume design...I could go on.
In short: I can’t wait. Maybe I’ll even have a martini on Sunday in celebration.
