Check out this blog post from Adam Curtis, who made the best documentary you'll never see in the US, called Century of Self, which more clearly outlined the development of the Neo-Con vs. Muslim extremism conflict than anything I've ever seen. The blog post is actually about advertising, psychology and an interesting perspective on Mad Men.
I've been loving me some Mad Men for a while, and have been thoroughly enjoying Season 3 so far. This is probably the funniest parody of what is probably the best show on television right now.
What's interesting about Mad Men is that it's actual viewership, ratings wise, isn't all that major, a few ticks above a million per week on Sunday nights, but apparently, it's making serious moves when it comes to OnDemand, episode purchases on iTunes, etc, and DVD sales. Is this where TV is headed?
The other thing they do brilliantly is make ads seem less intrusive by providing little tidbits about their major sponsors, ie - BMW, Heineken, etc. Maybe that's only interesting if you have more than a passing interest in the art of marketing, but it makes the whole process seem more interesting when insight beyond a 30 second spot introduces the actual ad. Although, I guess when you have a savvy show about ad industry execs, then you need to approach advertising with a fresh perspective.
Although some criticize the show for how the show's women are portrayed, a large part of the show's creative team are women...Here is the most informative article I've seen looking behind the scenes at the show from the Wall Street Journal last month.
