The Maddest of Men

Ah, Man Men. The show that made the 60's cool again. Apart from being AMC's only popular broadcast ever (seriously, no one wants to see Ben Hur AGAIN) and inspiring countless college students to trade in their Natty Ice for the "classier" choice of bourbon on the rocks, Mad Men has provided an interesting new outlet for product placement.

Rather than having the product covertly placed on screen (see: American Idol) or weaved into the storyline as a theme or joke (see: my last post about The Office and Parks and Recreation), the products in Mad Men are simply that; products. Since the show is about an advertising company, the writers, producers, directors, etc are able to go a little bit deeper when promoting the product at hand. By seeing how the fictional characters in the show would go about advertising the products, the promotion has a different angle. In a sense, it's even more secretive than typical product placement because as an audience we think that we are behind the scenes when, in fact, we are being advertised to as we watch.

This strategy is apparently very successful seeing as how Heineken and Cadillac have both signed major deals to be a part of the show's storylines. Much of the entertainment from the show comes from seeing how products were marketed to us "back in the day" but what many people don't realize is that the show is also demonstrating how products are being marketed to us now.



I'm pretty proud of myself for catching on to this little marketing scheme..... now if I only looked that good in a suit.