A Mad Men Survey!

To my loyal readers,

I'm currently in the process of writing a thesis at Appalachian State University on the nature of product placement in modern entertainment media. I plan to use the products in Mad Men as the primal case study for indistinguishably intertwining advertising and entertainment media.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, I hope you'll take a couple seconds to fill out the following survey about products subtly and purposefully placed in Mad Men.

Products in Mad Men Survey

Advertising Portfolio: Str-AD-tegies

Introduction

This blog post is a portfolio of ads which I’ve rhetorically analyzed to uncover hidden layers of meaning and intent behind the messages. By using this approach, we gain a deeper level of meaning behind the messages, and ultimately are able to read between the lines of persuasion.

The modern era of advertising attempts to persuade us with how we feel about a product more so than what we think about it. (Considine & Haley, 1999) Also, within a modern media-saturated culture, advertisers have met us at a point at which we have a vetted interest in the message; through forms of entertainment. In 2011, the FCC addressed this fusion of entertainment with public interest and determined that regulatory measures could not be taken because often the entertainment form and the advertising measures are too intimately linked to identify as separate entities. (Cain, 2011) Advertising is therefore a hybrid of entertainment, and private interest messaging which employs appeals to emotional and subconscious thought, in order to yield beneficial action from the general public.

Baad Sells

Salem Cigarettes

This print ad from Salem cigarettes is a perfect example of rebellion from the very popular and unanimously recognized belief that smoking is bad for your health. The argument made by the text is that you don’t have to look past the surface to get the ‘happiness’ this product offers. “I don’t analyze smoking. I enjoy it.” It’s followed by a longer, colloquial paragraph giving a simplistic and seemingly rational argument from a charismatic looking individual. He says you can stand against the overwhelming majority with a cigarette, and be different and happy. Much like the gun example in Considine & Haley’s piece, this ad functions with the rationale of “It feels good, buy it!” (Considine & Haley, 1999)

Pitches and Persuasions

Celebrity Endorsement: Matthew McConaughey Lincoln

This ad features well-known actor and movie star, Matthew McConaughey, talking about his connection with Lincoln cars. In addition to his claim in the commercial that he’s been driving Lincoln cars long before people payed him to, he starred in a 2011 movie called “The Lincoln Lawyer.” (The Lincoln Lawyer, 2011) The use of McConaughey talking about Lincoln makes him a personal advocate for the brand, and associates his coolness and success with Lincoln Motor Company. Therefore, this ad is aimed at anyone who likes McConaughey or his movies as he not only has credibility, but here acts as a salesman.

Negative and Comparison: Sprite Street Basketball Commercial

I loved this commercial as a kid, just because I thought it was super cool. It shows a group of street youthful (18-25) pick-up basketball players feeling heat exhausted on a ramshackle court. Then, one of the basketball players takes a sip of Sprite and casts himself into Sprite’s world of thirst quenching delight. The basketball court becomes a pool which all of the players can swim in. The commercial ends with a buoyant bottle of Sprite coming to the surface of the pool/court with the slogan “Freedom from Thirst”; providing a solution to the negative problem of being a thirsty individual on a hot summer day.    

Plain Folks: Dale Peterson for Alabama Agricultural Commissioner

This ad romanticizes Dale Peterson as an upstanding member of Alabama, and hopes to promote himself to the agricultural/ farmer market that makes up a large portion of his state. Peterson also utilizes romanticized props like guns and pictures of the constitution to his advantage by associating these deep held traditions with his candidacy for Agricultural Commissioner. He also criticizes his opponent calling him a “dummy” for bragging about gaining illegal contributions on his Facebook page. He then raises a gun to the camera and says “We’re Republicans we should be better than that,” which could easily qualify as some sort of veiled threat. All in all, this ad is representative of the core values of a large chunk of Alabama, although to the rest of the world it seems pretty humorous.  

Alcohol Advertising

Heineken- Sing It Out Loud

"Sing It Out Loud" by Heineken simultaneously brought the ideas of quirkiness, coolness, sex appeal and cultural equity to its product in this single 90-second commercial.

• Type of alcohol- Heineken beer
• Age group- It depicts a white male in his late 20s or early 30s interacting with people of all age groups and ethnicities, with special emphasis on his interactions with women.   
• Takes place at a party/jamboree, which this guy is a guest of honor
• The main character man is making an entrance to this high-class get together/gathering.  He does special handshakes with all of the pre-existing party members. He also subtly and smoothly interacts with the attractive women he runs past while in the process of his grand entrance. At the end of the commercial, he gets up on stage with the bad who’s singing the background music and toasts to the crowd holding a Heineken. Essentially, the ad makes him look really cool.  
• A party is a hip and exciting environment which the viewer automatically associates with Heineken. The white male lead has a goatee and a unique white coat in the end of the commercial, making him a prototypical protagonist with his own unique spin. Moreover, his apparent regularity as what can only be described as “normal dude” makes him accessible to a male-dominated beer-buying population.
• Most of the interactions start as serious confrontations, like a standoff, and then become a playful handshake or some form of flattering fake-fighting.  The best example comes when an oriental looking character begins performing martial arts on the opposite side of the room from our protagonist. After coming face to face with our protagonist and exchanging quick karate-style hand movements juggling a Heineken, the man smiles as an impressed subordinate being handed the beer.  
• The socio-economic group in the ad are at some sort of ball, so I would imagine upper-middle to high class individuals, which in a way matches the price bracket of Heineken. For a mass distributed beer, it tends in the upper-middle price range of mass-produced beers comparable to Corona or other imported light beers.  
• For one, the commercial shows the excitement and pleasure experienced during the time you drink Heineken instead of the lack of pleasure and excitement experienced the morning after. Also, I think it romanticizes the idea of making a grand entrance to a party, because in reality, no one could ever make an entrance like this guy.

Women In Advertising: Veganism Body Scan Ad

“Women use and need products to attract the attention of men.” (Considine & Haley, 1999)

To play devil’s advocate for my criticism, I think the producer of this ad might say that this is highlighting this as a specific benefit of veganism. However, that implication cuts both ways. It implies that if you aren’t vegan you won’t be proud to get body-scanned and potentially be ashamed of presenting their body to men, or society as a whole.

I would also like to ask this ad producer if their potentially vegan market is dominated by women. And I don’t think the answer would really matter, because women who are open minded enough to go on a very restrictive and relatively expensive diet, are probably also literate enough to be able to see through ad campaigns like this. In my favorite show Mad Men, they perpetually use the phrase “Men want her, women want to be her” as an excuse to put a sexy woman in an ad.  However that phrase was essentially just an assumption created by advertising executives who believed that women wanted to be the complementary accessory to the egomaniac men that they were. Even if this ad were effective with females, I don’t think they would resort to the drastic dietary restrictions of veganism. I imagine all this would do is create a greater discomfort in women with their own bodies.  

Product Placement:

30 Rock: Cisco Telepresence

Telepresence on 30 Rock from ITP Telepresence on Vimeo.

30 Rock uses humor to get around the fact that they consistently incorporate product placement into their show. This example (although poor quality) explicitly identifies Cisco as a product placed into the show, and uses humor to make it a prop rather than a product. So while it is an advertisement, the way that it's written as a joke makes it seem like part of the show. This is critically important when it comes to product placement. No viewer wants their program interrupted by some plug for a company or product. This ruins the entertainment for the viewer, and makes it apparent that the program is no longer an entertainment program but rather a commercial. However, if the product is integrated subtly or with humor as it is here, serves to achieve the opposite effect and actually intrigue people in its role in the program.

OK Go Needing/Getting Music Video: Featuring Chevrolet Car

This is a music video from the band OK Go, which uses a microphoned and gadget-ed Chevrolet car to interact with objects in the physical realm as it drives by to create tonal noises that match the instruments on the song they’re performing. OK Go is famous for their ambitious and creative music videos which are extremely intricate and require intense planning and preparation. However, many of these videos are so impressively complex, they require a corporate sponsor to pay for all of the production and then the video can be used as an entertainment ad for both OK Go and the sponsor. This video’s corporate sponsor is Chevrolet. The car is the focus of the entire video. As the car hits barrels and other trinkets which in turn vibrate individual notes, the members of the band sing acapella style in the cab of the car. Both OK Go and Chevrolet are happy about this project because OK Go achieved it’s creative vision with the help of Chevy, who gained a commercial which people online will actively search for to watch over and over.  

Free Choice

NBA Playoffs: Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers

This ad takes an incredibly exciting moment, like the final moment of an NBA playoffs game, and juxtaposes it with slow dramatic music, and slow-motion black and white video. After NBA superstar Kobe Bryant hits a game-winning shot, it zooms in to Kobe at mid-court fist pumping and his teammates ecstatically hugging and celebrating the win. For all intents and purposes, Kobe composure during the scene makes him seem “amazing.” The tagline becomes, “Where will amazing happen this year?” Followed by an NBA Playoffs Logo and the final tagline "Where Amazing Happens."

Dodge George Washington Commercial

This commercial uses romanticism to paint Dodge as an American company. It’s humorously romanticized as something that helped the patriots defeat the British in the American Revolution, and I think people enjoy it all the more because it’s so ridiculous. The tagline goes “Here’s a couple of things America got right: cars, and freedom.”

Works Cited:

1. Considine, D., & Haley, G. (1999). Visual messages: Integrating imagery into instruction (2nd ed.). Englewood, Colorado: Teacher Ideas Press.
2. Cain, Rita Marie. (2011) Embedded Advertising on Television: Disclosure, Deception, and Free Speech Rights. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing: Vol. 30, No. 2, 226-238.
3. The Lincoln Lawyer [Motion picture]. (2011). Distributed by Entertainment One Films.

“When a man walks into a room, he brings his whole life with him. He has a million reasons for being anywhere, just ask him. If you listen, he'll tell you how he got there. How he forgot where he was going, and that he woke up. If you listen, he'll tell you about the time he thought he was an angel or dreamt of being perfect. And then he'll smile with wisdom, content that he realized the world isn't perfect. We're flawed, because we want so much more. We're ruined, because we get these things, and wish for what we had."

This is by far the most over-quoted monologue from Mad Men or perhaps in the world of television as a whole. But take it from the guy who's watched this series more times than he can count on one hand, there's a reason this is so popular.

I'm an Aquarius, like Don; born in the middle of winter. My zodiac tells me I connect more to abstractions of reality than to reality itself. But this trait isn't exclusive to people born between MLK and Valentine's day.  It's the reason we all love fiction and mythology. 

As I mentioned in my one of my first blog posts, the term "myth" isn't synonymous with false. In fact, mythology is one of the only elements of humanity that has transcended all time periods. Humans need to tell stories.  Mythology is a microcosm of our values, people and culture, told through fiction.  

This monologue from season 4 episode 8 "The Summer Man" is the synopsis of our protagonist character Don Draper. He's a perfect character because he's not the archetypal hero that we normally see in fiction.  Although he  has heroic qualities, like his exceptional talent for creative copy writing, he's flawed. 

"He'll smile with wisdom, content that he realized the world isn't perfect." Therefore Don isn't perfect, and doesn't always succeed in the end. He's an introspective man, forced by the world to have a hard exterior.  Most of all he's imperfect, because ultimately he's human like the rest of us.  

Why I'm quitting Tobacco: Part II Podcast

Don Draper's 'Why I'm quitting Tobacco.' A Rhetorical Analysis

Please enjoy my rhetorical analysis of Don Draper's New York Times rant titled "Why I'm quitting Tobacco." Excuse background details about who Draper is and what the show is about, as this was written for a general audience. I assume if you're willing to read a blog about Mad Men, you know a little bit about the show already.  

Why I’m Quitting Tobacco: A Rhetorical Analysis

            Fictional advertising executive Don Draper (2010) is a symbolic representation of a Madison Avenue businessman in the 1960’s, in AMC’s Mad Men.  Draper is a suave creative writer who constructs advertising campaigns for major businesses such as Mohawk Airlines, Utz potato chips, and Chevrolet.  However Draper is most famous for his work with tobacco power-house, Lucky Strike cigarettes.  Draper created the catch-phrase, “It’s Toasted” for Lucky Strike in order to distract the general public from health concerns in tobacco.  Lucky Strike became the central focus for Drapers ad firm consisting of about 35 percent of the total income.  When Lucky Strike decided to move their business elsewhere, it left Draper and his firm at risk of bankruptcy.  Draper responded with a full-page New York Times rant called “Why I’m Quitting Tobacco”, slamming his competitors and past client.  “For over 25 years we devoted ourselves to peddling a product for which good work is irrelevant, because people can’t stop themselves from buying it.”(2010)  Draper explains that for most of his professional career, he enjoyed the plentiful money gained from tobacco.  This strategy helps advance his credibility because it shows his moral accountability and a change of heart.  Draper recognizes the ethically questionable nature of tobacco, and takes a stand against it in the NY Times.  Draper effectively authenticates his advertising practice by publicly criticizing Lucky Strike cigarettes and connecting the toxicity of their business to the toxicity of their product.

            The main reason Draper’s piece is so effective is because advertising is notorious for its low code of ethics yet Draper establishes an ethos based argument for his business reasoning.  “…when Lucky Strike moved their business elsewhere, I realized, here was my chance to be someone who could sleep at night, because I know what I’m selling doesn’t kill my customers.” (2010)  It’s refreshing to hear an advertising executive talk about applied ethics in the workplace, because his business is commonly known as indecent.    This shows that while he may not have chosen to lose their business, he’s seizing the opportunity by informing others of the corrupt nature of the tobacco industry.  Draper later lists his competitors that still do work for major tobacco clients, setting his agency apart from others by implying that his agency cares about its customers.  For a guy who has certainly danced in ethical gray areas before, Draper publicly commits to “no longer take tobacco accounts,” (2010) giving his business an ethical stamp of legitimacy.   

Draper says that tobacco is “A product that never improves, that causes illness, and makes people unhappy.  But there was money in it. A lot of money. In fact, our entire business depended on it. We knew it wasn’t good for us, but we couldn’t stop.”  (2010) Draper clearly alludes to the idea that Lucky Strike’s business was just like their product; addictive.  With Lucky Strike comprising an unhealthy majority of the firm’s business, it made the firm’s stability very weak, and completely dependent on cigarettes.  Much like cigarette addiction, they knew it wasn’t good for them, but they couldn’t stop themselves.  This appeal is effective because it illustrates the same abusive behavior tobacco takes on its business victims as well as its consumers.  This allusion seems obvious, but one that isn’t stated often from a firsthand account.  By comparing a corrupt business to a corrupt product, Draper realizes his NY Times audience will much more easily jump on his side.  He suggests that his ad firm is better than his competitors because it has a higher standard than the competitors.

When writing the column, Draper was frustrated and desperate for public exposure in order to gain new ad accounts for his business.  But instead of seeming desperate by asking for clients, he threw away new potential clients by telling the world he would no longer work with tobacco companies.  While this seems counterintuitive, Draper assumed that his ethically driven firm would make the biggest splash for new business, and he was correct.  In the following episode of the show, Draper had a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to construct a campaign to help stop children from smoking.  This desperation move proved to be a shining moment in Draper’s career. 

Although it was technically a paid advertisement placed in the paper, this column is a prime example of effective public relations.  Advertising and public relations (PR) often go hand-in-hand however there are some important distinctions that separate the two.  In general, advertising is promotion for a product while PR is promotion for a business.  Advertising is paid media while PR is earned media.  Advertising’s main goal is selling products while PR’s main goal is proving legitimacy to the public. Public Relations not only connects with the public, but strives to form relationships with new potential business connections.  While Draper paid to have this column placed in the Times and he would call himself an ad-man, this column is all about public relations.  He is attempting to relate to the common-man who reads the New York Times.  Draper is hoping to make a big enough splash to form new relationships with ethically conscience businesses.   He sets his firm apart from others by spinning their recent loss of Lucky Strike into a gain by becoming the heroes of ethics in advertising. 

            Draper’s refreshingly ethical advertisement effectively and creatively illustrates his business legitimacy.  His passionate attack on the tobacco industry is an indisputable argument that purposely pissed off his ex-client, Lucky Strike.  Not only did Draper separate himself from the grueling business of tobacco, but he created an anti-tobacco bandwagon which he hopes other businesses and organizations will jump on with his firm.  This strategic communication piece is Don Draper’s exemplary work in engaging public interest toward a cause. 

Work Cited:

Weiner, M., Hamm, J. (2010).  Season 4, Episode 12, “Blowing Smoke”.  Weiner, M., Mad Men. New York, NY. Retrieved from: http://madmen.wikia.com/wiki/%22Why_I'm_Quitting_Tobacco%22 

Faye, You Were The One...

Oh Faye... Let me use the beginning of this article to say that we are all dearly sorry for what transpired between you and Don Draper. He knew not what he did. Don's useless arrogance overshadowed the importance of his relationship with a driven and career-oriented woman who genuinely cared for him despite his endless pursuit of the bottom of the bottle.

This is starting to feel like an obituary.

The 10 episodes of Mad Men you graced us with gave us hope that Don might finally situate himself with someone who could heal the wounds of Anna's death. Not to mention, you're the only woman in the entire Mad Men series given the respect and credibility of a professional. With your gentle, considerate demeanor complimented by the powerful and intimidating doctorate degree in psychology...

No, perhaps this is a love letter.

Faye, you're a classy chick. You didn't whore your way into Don's good graces either; you made him work for it. After he hit rock bottom the night of the Sonny Liston v. Mohammed Ali fight, he realized if he ever wanted to be worthy of someone like Dr. Faye he was gonna have to clean up his act. And they couldn't have picked a better actor to play her part.

Cara Buono, I might actually be falling for you.

A New York City girl born and raised, you graduated from Columbia in 1995 to go full time with your acting career which was already well underway.  Buono even wrote and directed the short film "Baggage", which I must say is up there with Wes Anderson's "Hotel Chevalier" as one f my favorite short films I've seen. But most of all, your character Dr. Faye was so natural because it seems she wasn't far off from the person you are in real life.

Faye was the one.

Faye's character makes men ache for the women they've hurt in the past, and I imagine women feel that same pain much more directly.  The story of Faye seems to comfort and massage all of our hearts before violently ripping them out of our chests.

We the fans still love you Faye.

We appreciate how you got our protagonist back on his feet. You don't cook and you're not good with kids, but Don would have much rather gone to dinner and pass his kids along to ex-wife anyway. You thought you two were going all the way, and we were strapped in for the same happily ever after. And then Don drove that bus off a cliff. SURPRISE!!! Don's sleeping with his secretary again.
But this time, Don's naive and vulnerable enough to think he's experienced the "struck-with-lightning" love he told Rachel Menken doesn't actually exist. Turns out he was right. Don proposes to Megan in Disney World (real original Don) and Faye's world gets shattered with a soulless break-up phone call from Don.

A good man doesn't do that. But Don isn't a good man. Even though it seems you might never love again, we're all cheering for you Faye. And it's good to know that Cara Buono is happily married and leading a continually successful acting career.

If you ever read this Cara Buono, know that I deeply respect your acting work in Mad Men and The Sopranos. AND your poise has struck me similarly to how you struck Don Draper, and I (along with many others, I'm sure) am deeply enchanted by you. Intelligent, intimidating and beautiful in all sorts of ways.

P.S. I'm glad you talk so fondly of your husband in interviews.  It makes us all very happy to know that there's not some miserable alcoholic putting you on the back burner of his agenda in real life.

Scumbucket Charisma

The Lovable Anti-Hero

Is it merely coincidence that three of Netflix' most popular shows are 'protaganized' by three of the world's most self-interested deviants?  I'm referring of course to the three above; Walter White from Breaking Bad, Frank Underwood of House of Cards, and the notorious Don Draper from Mad Men.

Oh and let's not forget:

Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy                                          Nancy Botwin of Weeds

Dexter of Dexter                                                      Tony Soprano of The Sopranos

Do we understand the current climate of our television programs? 

In one of my first blogs, I laid out the Hero's Journey according theologian Joseph Campbell, and how Don Draper fit into that archetypal model.  I stand behind the idea that Don Draper, like most protagonists, follow a similar archetypal journey throughout the plot of a given story.  However, somewhere along the way it seems it became good, to be bad.

We love rebellion. Most cult-groups promise some sort of stray from the norm.  The Grateful Dead became one of the most universally recognized cult-bands of all time because they offered a lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock n roll through their music. People with Jeeps can drive far off the beaten path, because they're adventurous and DIFFERENT.

Joseph Campbell wrote "The Hero with A Thousand Faces" in 1949.  He argued that almost every story ever written, including Moses' journey through the dessert and myths of ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, had a similar main character plot structure.  The profane human becomes a hero, goes on a journey with struggles and abysses, learns a valuable lesson, and returns home, transformed.  I believe that the anti-hero television movement aims to stray from this long-established norm.

Consider the 2001 Steven Soderbergh movie, "Ocean's Eleven." While I realize the movie was originally filmed in 1960 starring Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., Soderbergh brought back a powerful idea, of cheering for the bad-guy. Danny Ocean and his crew of 10 dudes, (10 + 1 = 11; i.e. Ocean's Eleven) plan to heist a Las Vegas casino for millions.  Oh and he made sure to incorporate three generations of hunks in George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon.  When you have bad-ass charismatic lead men like this, it almost authorizes them to do whatever they want and the audience will hop on board with the cause.

So thus, we have Walter White dissolving bodies in acid and Frank Underwood pushing his journalist-with-benefits in front of a train.  Don Draper is one of the most interesting case studies in turning south because, excluding his nuptial infidelity, he's not always a terrible guy.  For the first 2 seasons, Draper doesn't want to cheat on Betty, things are nice at home, and he values his relationship with Bobby and Sally.  But at the beginning of the end of his marriage with Betty, Don turns into the monster that we love to watch.

We can thank Matthew Weiner for this.  Weiner won nine Primetime Emmy Awards for his writing on both Mad Men and The Sopranos. Weiner is head-writer and creator of Mad Men. Weiner finished his work on The Sopranos in 2007, the same year Mad Men debuted on AMC. Weiner used the mobster-murderer, Tony Soprano, as the mold in which to cast his new character, Don Draper. Draper became the stage on which Weiner's evil writing could dance.  He can cheat, drink, and verbally abuse anyone he pleases upon his throne as creative director.  Weiner imagined Don Draper as America, but I see him more as the corrupt King of the states, if we were a monarchy.  

Jon Hamm once told Time magazine "People always tell me 'I want to be just like Don Draper.' I ask 'Why? You want to be a miserable drunk?'" We don't really understand why we obsess over these horrible people, other than the fact that they're entertaining and original.  Not many of us have the capacity to be so vicious and remain so calm on the exterior. We can only remain fascinated at the vile actions of these fictional characters, because they're so much better than we are at keeping it cool.