Mad Men Review

A new show called Mad Men is on the TV screens that supposedly reflects Madison Avenue in the 60s. George Parker who’s been working in advertising since JWT opened shop back in the 1890s remembers the era as a slanted blur. He made this comment:

My first job in the States was in 1964 at Benton & Bowles, New York, so I’m one of the few people who watched it tonight that can speak from experience. First, the nit picks… Yes, we all smoked like chimneys, but we never smoked in elevators as one of the young AE’s did. That was a no-no along with not taking your hat off. Yes we all drank like fishes, but we did it at lunch time and after work. No one had drink trays and ice buckets like the Don Draper character. And no one poured their first Scotch with an Alka Seltzer at nine in the morning as the gay AD character, Salvatore did. Even when I worked for Dick Lord at Warwick & Legler, which was the main Seagram Agency, we’d get ploughed at lunchtime after three martini lunches, but we never cracked open a bottle in the office…. But, having said all that, I’ll keep watching it to see if the sex gets better. But I’ll Tivo it to kill the sixteen fucking ads I had to sit through in the hour it was on!!!

You might not have poured at Scotch at 9am then, George – but what about today?? ;)

Read the whole review at AdScam