Mad Men and Trust me VS Real Advertising

A doctor friend of mine once told me he found great pleasure in watching House M.D. Because he recognised and read about all those exotic conditions mentioned. I could never relate. In fact I may have accidentally yelled, "YOU FUCKING NERD". I don't think he noticed.

But oh how the tables have turned because there are now not ONE but TWO TV series based on the wonderful world of advertising. Oh my, is this a new trend in white collar dramas? From Doctors, to Lawyers and now Advertisers?

 

If you keep track of the popular TV shows available today, you'll have heard of Mad Men. 

Set in the 60's. An honest time. A good time. Where families were wholesome and everyone lived in large houses with white picket fences, 2.5 kids and a Golden Retriever named Rover. 

Also a time where everyone smoked, drank at all times of the day and cheated on their spouses with anyone wearing a skirt.

My dad confirms this.

The smoking, drinking and fucking is dead on. In fact, since advertising hasn't really changed throughout the years, the show remains pretty true to life. There are tons of references to campaigns done in the 60s. This fills me with glee, such as when they mention Bill Bernbach's "lemon" ad for Volkswagon. I was working at DDB at the time and couldn't help but feel a little proud.*

 

 

 

 

More up to date is the show Trust Me

Based on modern advertising, the show was created by the guys who used to write for Nip/Tuck. Who also used to be copywriters! 

It's about two partners working in a fictional Chicago agency. Now if you really wanna see what happens in ad agencies today, I highly recommend watching this show. Falls into the Dramedy genre ala Boston Legal.  

I REALLY like this show but I think people will inadvertently judge it. Writing a show that is heavily based on a creative environment has to be fucking tough. It's already hard being creative in your good ole' agency. Imagine what it' s like trying to be creative writing a plot about other people being creative.

That's like trying to bake an intricate cake with a smaller intricate cake inside that's a different flavour. All while making sure it tastes good.

If done well, you sir, have made the twinky a product of the past. Hand me a slice of your Chocolate Banana / Strawberry Cheesecake amalgamation. 

I sincerely hope this show makes it past the first season. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I now work at an agency called Dentsu. They're Japanese and as far as I know, own everything in Japan. 

Random trivia: In the first episode of Trust Me they kept mentioning the Clios. I don't know if this is because that particular award was the fucking shit when the writers were still working in an agency, but nowadays people want Yellow Pencils or Lions. I'm chill about a lot of major things, such as getting robbed or getting into a car accident but for some reason I'm pedantic as fuck when it comes to shit like this. 

For example:

It irks the fuck outta me when people use redundancies like ATM MACHINE. The fuck is that? People gave you acronyms to make your life easier. Morons.