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 

Take Me to the Pilot

I have recently restarted Mad Men on Netflix, marking the start of my seventh lap through the series. 

The pilot episode of any TV show is usually one of the best episodes in the series.  To illustrate the importance of a pilot episode I'll quote Samuel L. Jackson's character, Jules, from Pulp Fiction: 

"Well, the way they pick TV shows is, they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that one show to the people who pick shows, and on the strength of that one show they decide if they want to make more shows. Some get chosen and become television programs. Some don't, become nothing."

So as you might imagine if the producers are excited about a show they'll pump a lot of money into the pilot, hoping it will be picked up.  A successful pilot begs for whatever's next.

So what's so cool about Mad Men's pilot?

Betty and Don Draper (played by January Jones and Jon Hamm)

As any pilot should, it sets the stage for the remainder of the series.  It introduces us to Don Draper, "the greatest ad-man ever."  He wings his way through a meeting with Lucky Strike cigarettes, pulling the phrase "IT'S TOASTED" out of the smoky air.  Through the course of the 50 minute show he sleeps with an artist named Midge, charms his female client Rachel Menken, declines a strong offer from his new secretary Peggy, and in the end goes home to his wife, Betty (played by January Jones, who I might add is a total babe.)

One of the best sequences in the episode is when Don has his first conversation with Pete Campbell, simply because Don so eloquently and offhandedly sums up Pete's entire career in advertising as he walks into a meeting. 

"Advertising is a very small world and when you do something like malign the reputation of a girl in the steno pool on her first day, you make it even smaller. Keep it up, and even if you do get my job, you'll never run this place. You'll die in that corner office, a mid-level executive with a little bit of hair who women go home with out of pity. Want to know why? Cause no one will like you."

As we get this misogynistic, yet heroic portrait of the most creative mind on Madison Avenue, there are still a lot of blank spaces left to be filled.  The pilot only scratches the surface of the most important parts of Don, like his family and background.  And it drops anecdotes about his arrogance, ignorance, and lack of a sense of meaning in life.  



"The reason you haven't felt it is because it doesn't exist. 

What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell
nylons...

 ... I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there  isn't one. "





So we've established within this first episode that Don Draper is a charismatic asshole who makes love to many, but doesn't truly love anything, except booze.  He has a history in the army, resides in the top 1% tax bracket, and treats his family, fellow employees, and clients like garbage but still gets mad respect from all of them.  

If you love character based stories, you'll probably be jumping around like a kid about to pee himself until you watch the next episode.  And THAT, is precisely why this pilot is so good.  

Seven time through the series, and I've always watched the second episode immediately after the first.  The desire to unravel the enigma that is Don Draper is more addictive than Lucky Strike cigarettes.