Having had time to digest Mad Men, and having had my review of yesterday linked to quite a few ad sites I have some further thoughts, which I'll do in the form of a couple of comments I posted on two sites. And then answers to comments posted on AdScam... If I missed you out, forgive me. Blame those three Martini lunches at the King Cole Bar. Here we go...
I replied to AdPulp with this... Yeah, as I said... It ain't no "Sopranos." And it had a massive amount of hype and PR for weeks. Having slept on it, couple of things struck me this morning. The "New Girl" sure packed a lot into her first day, including a visit to the "Smoking Gynecologist." Ending up by getting laid with the Office Jerk... Who had to be so drunk, I don't think he would have made much of an impression anyway. And you just knew that "Don Boy" would end up in Connecticut for his twice weekly conjugal visit. And like I said in my review, we drank like fish, but not in the office.
On Thinking in Vain ... I had this to say... Good points... They made a big deal about historical accuracy - Hence the Xerox 914 - First dry copier - wasn't introduced 'til 1962... But they had copiers, you had to type a stencil, then run off copies - The Gestetner! And the women being too dumb to understand an electric typewriter, and the awful line that "they must have made them easy enough for women to use." Were just pathetic. Someone should have reminded the teenage writers that two of the Ad Biz greats, Mary Wells and Shirley Policoff were both going great guns at the time. Or, they could have asked an old fart like me!
Here are my replies to comments on AdScam...
The Count... Yes indeed. The King Cole Bar with the farting king! Mines a Gin & Tonic.
KK... Yeah, I thought the lead in's to the spots were a bit dumb. But I'll bet the media buyers at BDA's thought that was some kind of hot marketing 2.0 shit!
David & Ken... Just get me a big time consulting gig with AMC... Then I can sit in one of their offices, smoke and drink all day, fuck secretaries on my Danish Modern desk, and tell them it's research for the next episode.
PeterG... Yeah, the poor fuckers only had 50 minutes to develop the episode plot . When we get to do a TV spot, we have the full luxury of 30 seconds.
Fizz... "And we did bust out the booze for the client in meetings." Jesus... I obviously worked in the wrong agencies.
Kristina B... Please write a review from a woman's POV. That would be great. And please send pictures of you pulling miracles out of your arse!!! Just kidding. Unless you actually have pictures of you pulling... Forget it. But do please send me a review... I'll definitely post it.
High Jive ... Fallon staffers were consultants!!! Fallon didn't exist 'til the late seventies... And they were in fucking Minneapolis doing ads for tattoo parlors for Christ's sake!.
Tom Messner... One of the all time greats... Is right. "Toasted" happened in the forties... And black and white... Like Putney Swope (except for the TV spots) would have been much more in character... That's why "Good Night & Good Luck' was so perfect. Oh, and the medal was a Purple Heart... Anything with the name "Honor" associated with the profession of advertising would have been an insult. More importantly, one of the best books about advertising was "The Admen" by Shephard Mead, written when he was a copywriter in a BDA in 1958 before he hit it big with "How to succeed in business without really trying." The great thing about it is that It could have been written today, 'cos nothing has changed. The fucking fear and paranoia of losing an account and/or your job... The ass kissing... The raging fucking egos... The no-talent dipshits that rise to the top... Jesus, it's all about Draft/FCB!... And the best film of all time about advertising, without a doubt, is "PUTNEY SWOPE." Directed by Robert Downey Senior, father of my all time favorite hell raiser. It's just been re-released on DVD... Sell your sister and buy it. Or ask Kristin B to pull it out of her arse... And send me a picture!!!
Good Night and Good Luck/George
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And fucking proud of it!