Ad Madness

I've been wanting to write this blog for a long time, but was afraid that it would end up being too snarky...

I love the AMC show Mad Men. I think part of the attraction of the show is how cringe worthy some of the misogynistic ways the men treat women in the office. I've talked to my Mom, who worked in a large office around the same time the show was set. She said it was not quite as bad as that, but that there was a glass ceiling in the company, and a woman could not expect to rise above the level of supervisor. When my Mom left in 1962, she was a claims supervisor, which was the highest level a woman could achieve. My Mom worked at an insurance company, not in advertising, but I saw a degree of this type of male centered behavior when I worked in advertising in 2005.

In 2005, I began working as an intern at an advertising agency in Dallas. I didn't have any ad experience; I had always wanted to work for this company after this guy I knew in AA had worked for them. I used some connections to get a job as a Account Planning intern. What I noticed during my time there was that advertising is a man's world. Oh there were plenty of women who worked there, and they were treated with respect on a certain level, but in the most important aspect of advertising, creative, there were few if any women. The men who inhabit the creative positions were much like comedians are...they didn't think women could bring the creativity. The jobs that most of the women had were in account services and in media. Many of the women in these jobs walked around looking like they were miserable. During my time there, only two women filled senior executive positions...one in public relations and the other in account services.

I enjoyed working at that ad agency, despite the impression I got from some of the people there that they felt their work was extremely precious. For me, I could never reconcile my quasi Marxist beliefs with my job or encouraging people to buy expensive refrigerators or shop at home improvement stores. I don't think advertising is where less than talented artists go to make tons of money. Most of the people I worked with were interesting and kind...except that one Canadian...

Now I'm not saying that advertising today is like what is depicted in Mad Men...there wasn't the drinking all day and we got to wear whatever we wanted to work...we didn't have to wear suits...but I think that the male hold on creative work at advertising agencies should be loosened. I mean, how difficult is it really to sell chicken sandwiches?

Fed up

I don't know why, but the movie United 93 is in rotation on Cinemax this week. I watched it yesterday and it was disturbing. I cried a little yesterday when the movie ended. I watched part of the movie today and at the end I started getting mad instead of sad. I thought about how chaotic the whole system for altering the authorities that there were hijacked planes, and how those people on the planes were sitting ducks, victims not only of the hijackers but of our lax security systems. At that time, most airports or airlines contracted their own security from independent contractors. Essentially rent-a-cop mall cop types were the first (and last) line of defense against the terrorists.

But what really pissed me off was something that wasn't shown in the movie, how George W. Bush ignored warnings that Al Queda was planning to use airplanes in attacks on the country. George W was too busy cutting brush in Crawford to make sure that the FBI and the airlines and whoever else could have acted had the information to act. And I kept thinking about how, if a Democrat had been in office, how the reaction by the republicans would have been. I mean, they tried to blame the 9-11 attacks on Clinton even though he'd been out of office for 9 months. Can you imagine the shit we as Democrats would still be eating from Republicans if Al Gore had been in office when this happened? And they seem to still get a pass on this and on Iraq. For these two decisions alone they should not be allowed to be in power for another generation.

Assorted Hangers On

Okay, I hate to admit this, but I'm watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians...it shows just how bored I am...but this whole show has been devoted to whether Jonathan Cheban is gay or not...well, if you have never watched any of the Kardashian shows, this is Kim's BFF who has essentially rode her coattails to minor celebrity. He has had too much plastic surgery and has no discernable talent except the ability to plan parties. Here he is...you be the judge:

So anyway, there's all this brouhaha about whether he's gay. Kim doesn't know because obviously whenever they've been together, Kim hasn't let Jonathan talk about himself because she's so self involved. He says he's never been in love which Kris, rightly thinks, means the guy is gay and isn't okay with being gay...Who really cares...what I gather from this is a: Kim takes her friends side over her husband's and b: well, I like Kris Humphries more and more because he sees the absurdity of the whole Kardashian lifestyle.

And about whether Jonathan Cheban is gay...I will quote what I heard in high school one time: He might not suck on it, but he'd damn sure put it in his mouth!

WTF News Stories of 2011

Yeah, I'm a little late with this, but better late than never...here are the top news stories of 2011 that made me go "WTF?"

"Lost" Actor Marries 16 year old"

Fifty-One year old actor Doug Hutchinson married 16 year old aspiring starlet Courtney Stoddard. Despite the inherent creepiness in a 51 year old marrying a 16 year old, when I saw them in an interview and learned they were shopping a reality show around, I became really excited. They embody what reality television should be all about...botoxed older guy, slightly crazy younger woman who makes funny facial gestures because she thinks that's "acting." Of course I wanted to ask the defenders of marriage if this was the type of traditional marriage they're trying to protect.

"Kim Kardashian Kashes In"

Again with the marriage theme, Kim Kardashian and her not black enough obviously husband earn about $2,000 per minute they are married, if one figures in the reputed amount of money she earned for her 4 hour reality show wedding. My question, am I the only one who saw a problem with this union as early as the trip to Bora Bora? Kim seems like a neurotic diva who can't sleep in a room that's too open, gets mad when she wears a $50,000 earring in the ocean and loses it, and overall is just sort of demanding and not fun to be around. I guess it's difficult carrying that whole family around on that booty.

"Michelle Bachmann fill in the blank"

The mere fact that a religious fanatic like Michelle Bachmann is considered a serious political contender just shows how far down the Republican party, and our nation has gone. With her ex-gay husband, who, when he speaks 50 yards of chiffon flows out of his mouth, runs an ex-gay ministry and her continually bringing up that she has fostered 23 children, and her desire to bring the nation back to the good old days, circa 1955, prior to Brown v. Board she is a danger to everyone who wants to see the country progress out of the 20th century and into the 21st. Although she is obviously smart (she received a law degree from William and Mary) she does everything she can to dumb down her talking points. Bachmann and her cohort, Rick Santorum (check out http://spreadingsantorum.com/ ) are a danger to the freedoms we enjoy, because they believe they are so righteous that they can tell the rest of us how to live our lives. And she has lowered my opinion of William and Mary university.

That's all...