Mad men (and women), how do they fare today?

If you haven't seen the poster design for the final season of Mad Men by Milton Glaser yet, I'm sure you will consider it a treat. The poster not only references Glaser's signature Bob Dylan poster, but also loops back to Glaser’s career with Push Pin Studios, one of the biggest New York design firms to serve the advertising world during the real Mad Men era. Glaser was a founding member of Push Pin Studios along with Seymour Chwast, Edward Sorel, and Reynold Ruffins. Together, they helped shape, define, and set the direction of modern visual style.So besides this season’s poster design, how else does this critically acclaimed show—now in its seventh and final season—mirror the world of advertising on Madison Avenue? Some say some things have changed dramatically, while others adhere to the adage, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”Though technology has altered everyone’s lives dramatically, advertisers and the graphic designers that work with them have gained access to tons of data that helps them target, test, and monitor campaigns much more accurately. Designers still scramble to produce comps or prototypes that will win accounts, they just use much more technology to do it and face even tighter deadlines.Many argue that woman have it considerably better today and don’t face the sexism that Joan and Peggy have encountered throughout the show's run. However many others feel there is still a long way to go—including President Obama, who just last week called for equal pay for women. In terms of how woman are portrayed in advertising, an article for Business Insider in 2012 showed how many modern ads are even more sexist than their Mad Men counterparts.The three martini lunch is now (thankfully) gone, but the business of selling products and services by gaining an edge against your competitors is still the name of the game. Graphic designers who work in advertising are still charged with creating work that sells. In that role, they still face the same questions that Milton Glaser asks in the article he wrote in 2002, “The Road to Hell.” Glaser asks designers to examine their own personal ethics and establish their own level of discomfort. He starts off with a question that may seem a bit innocuous, asking designers if they have ever designed a package to look bigger on the shelf. The questions then get progressively more difficult, ending with the question, “have you ever designed an ad for a product whose frequent use might cause the user’s death? Glaser admits that he personally has taken a number of them during his long and illustrious career.Those of us who wait in great anticipation for the next Mad Men episode can’t help but notice parallels between the past and the present, and wonder at how “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”Sources:http://www.fastcocreate.com/3027412/image-of-the-day/milton-glasers-psychedelic-poster-for-final-season-of-mad-menhttp://www.wtop.com/41/3601295/Advertising-after-Mad-Men-How-the-show-compares-to-real-lifehttp://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-reiterates-call-equal-pay-women-23301061http://www.designlessbetter.com/blogless/posts/the-road-to-hellhttp://www.businessinsider.com/these-modern-ads-are-even-more-sexist-than-their-mad-men-era-counterparts-2012-4#this-old-ad-took-the-whole-walking-all-over-women-thing-to-the-next-level-1