If you’ve seen AMC’s Mad Men, you’ve probably wondered how to get a job in advertising—STAT. All jokes aside, the series paints a picture of advertising on Madison Avenue in the 1960’s complete with groundbreaking creative pitches, luxurious client dinners, and never-ending happy hours (seriously, all day long). It was a time when creative executives reigned supreme and the copy machine was considered a breakthrough piece of technology. Creator Matthew Weiner also used the show to expose very real issues of racism, sexism, and power-hungry leaders in the workplace.
The gradual changes that were met with resistance during the 60’s are ones that are alive and well today. Media buying was met with indifference but now stands at the forefront of advertising. The technology that came with media buying—like the computer that took up an entire office—was met with skepticism by creatives but is now the center of our modern-day world. Massive conglomerate agencies overtook the smaller underdogs and “three-martini lunches” went out the window. Mad Men rouses nostalgia for an era where being in advertising made you feel larger than life but we’re all the happier for the social and technological advancements that we see in agency-life today.