Mad Men, an American period drama has become a pop culture phenomenon. The critically acclaimed television series has been awarded numerous Emmys and Golden Globes for each of its five seasons but more significantly it has established a new craze for 1960s cocktail culture. Along with its influence on fashion and furniture design, the show reveals the perception of hard-drinking, chain-smoking advertising men of the early 1960s and their interaction with male chauvinism, adultery, homophobia, racism, sexual banter, and capitalism. Mad Men primarily receives two different types of pertinent criticism. A portion of the critics allot their reviews on the alternating moods and collective mores of a generation. The other half of the critics deliver acclamation for period-detailed set designs, historically accurate costume conception, nostalgic visual style, and authentic product placement. The series’ influence on contemporary culture can be seen all over the map. In 2008, Michael Kor’s clothing line made its debut on the cat walk of New York’s Fashion Week and consisted of slim suits, skinny ties, pencil skirts and pearls. The reviews thanked the characters, Don Draper and his on show office manager, Joan Halloway, for bringing these desired wardrobe trends to the closets of consumers (Stoddart, 2011). Marc Jacob’s Fall 2010 of “reconstructed femininity” was inspired by the series and emphasized Jacob’s line of corseted breasts, bare legs, bare arms, and womanly hips under full skirts (Stoddart, 2011).
The term, “mad men”, was actually coined in the late 1950s by advertising men who worked on Madison Avenue in New York City, which is where the television series is based. The era of the late 1950s and early 1960s of NYC creates a perfect setting for understanding the personal and cultural shifts of American society. The focal point among the cast of eccentric and conventional characters is Don Draper, the creative director for a lucrative advertising agency. Don, his family, and his company are ultimately confronted with societal changes through the political elections that shifted Eisenhower conservatism to Great Society liberalism, whose two main goals were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice (Stoddart, 2011). Don’s success and shadowy past unfolds around subtle and potentially cataclysmic changes: uncertain nuclear invasion (via the Cuban Missile Crisis), the transition from lounge music to rock ‘n’ roll, and the upward mobility of women, blacks, and closeted homosexuals in the corporate world (Stoddart, 2011).
Mad Men is unquestionably one of the most stylish, suggestive, and irresistible shows on television. But the series becomes even more absorbing once you dig deeper into its portrayal of the changing social and political mores of 1960s America and explore the philosophical complexities of its key characters and themes (Erwin, Carveth, & South, 2010).