Mad Men and Advertising

Just saw "Mad Men" on AMC for the first time. So true to life. It's one of the reasons I went into advertising. The main difference was that I entered in the 80's and there were just as many women in the middle management roles. Men at the top had perceived wisdom.

The other reason advertising appealed to me was because my dad's cosmetic company did some TV commercials. Every time I saw an ad on TV I was proud. Also that year, his annual report design won an award. It was all very exciting. I was ten years old when this all happened. I thought that one day I would run his advertising department.

The cosmetics company didn't survive the early 70's oil crisis. At 16, I knew my dad's cosmetic company, which BTW was named after me, was not going to be around. That was also the time when the senior year assessment counselor told me that I should be an architect or orthodontist and stay out of the field of communications. (I only went to high school for 3 years and graduated at 16.) I remember thinking how dare they tell me I can't do something.

When I graduated college the advertising bug was still with me. Since I didn't go to a top school and didn't know anyone who knew anyone in the business, I found a job as a receptionis. was soon fired because I couldn't pronounce the Japanese client's names. Found another job as a copy typist even thought I could only type 30 words a minute with mistakes. (I went to the same college as one interviewer and majored in Poli Sci as did the other interviewer. I convinced them that I knew how to operate computers and they just got a WANG.) That's a story in itself. Within 2 years I was at another agency as an Account Executive.

Life as I lived in Advertising is very similar to Mad Men. The girls got together to bitch, moan and bond. Both sexes did drinks after work. I remember my famous line "the first martini is hard to get down. The second martini goes down like water. The third martini you go down with anyone."

I don't remember how I managed to get home to Queens. But one late night I was a potential victim of a crime. I managed to escape the perp and left for the Upper West Side of Manhattan shortly thereafter.