Mad Men is making men (and women) mad. Their billboard, subway and public telephone booth posters promoting the fifth season premiere depicts a man free-falling against a backdrop of buildings. This visual has struck a nerve with families of 9/11 victims.
It’s understandable the image is upsetting to these families.
It’s also understandable that the show’s marketing team used the free-falling man image, which has been a staple of the program since its very first episode.
In response to assertions and accusations that it is deliberately leveraging a horrific terrorist attack to create buzz for the program, AMC, the network that owns Mad Men, released this statement:
"The image of Don Draper tumbling through space has been used since the show began in 2007 to represent a man whose life is in turmoil. The image used in the campaign is intended to serve as a metaphor for what is happening in Don Draper's fictional life and in no way references actual events."
I don’t watch the show (a cardinal sin, I know) but I am familiar with the falling man in the opening credits and I know it’s been part of the show since it debuted. I do not question the motives of the folks at AMC. I do not believe they are heartless bastards.
Bring on the Monday morning quarterbacks
Oh, but there are plenty of amateurs and critics with their arrows pulled from their quivers, placed in their bows and aimed at the hearts of the execs at AMC (which makes no sense if they are heartless bastards). Of course it was a cold, calculated and callous decision, they exclaim! It’s obvious to anyone who will be honest with themselves.
Really? You know that for certain? How? Are you a mind reader? Or just a cynic?
Ad Age stirred the pot in a blog by Rupal Parekh by inviting conjecture in the closing paragraph:
Were the creators of the show deliberately trying to gin up controversy to publicize the return of "Mad Men"? Or did they just inadvertently irk some people?
The questions have evoked passionate responses falling in both the “deliberate” and “inadvertent” camps.
Here are a couple of example:
Deliberate
I can understand the sensitivity of these families. But you can bet the show understood the potential for controversy when they created the falling man against such a stark background. They deliberately did not put him against the great images shown in the show open, which was the logical choice -- for a reason. They wanted the controversy, victim family feelings be damned.
Inadvertent
Really?!? You have got to be kidding me that you think that the marketing team of Mad Men is sitting around discussing today's tragedies and how they can benefit from them. Mad Men is an outstanding show and is not looking to gain for 9/11, Hurricane Katrina or any other disaster.
Where do you fall in this debate?
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