A Few Thoughts on The Absurdity of Mad Men's Don Draper

I thought so at the time the show was on the air but assumed I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about, but the more & more time since the end of Mad Men passes & the more I rewatch it, along with over a decade "in the biz", the more I come to terms with the fact that exactly nothing about the 1960s career arc of Don Draper, Genius Creative Director, remotely makes any sense or would’ve happened in the real world.

We’re led to believe that as creative director of a small agency in NYC he is not only “famous” within the industry, but openly feared. That's right: feared. None of that is plausible, but even if it is we’re supposed to believe this he just stays put at Sterling Cooper while fending off bigger companies with the kind of sexy clients he’s always bitching about wanting to work on. Jim Hobart is constantly showing up to beg him to accept the keys to a money truck & come work with him on the biggest, sexiest clients possible but Don always rudely dismisses him as if anybody’d be crazy to give up working on Glo-Pro bathroom products for McDonalds.

And then we’re supposed to believe that after his meltdown with Hershey he crawls his way back on his hands & knees, doing whatever it takes to get back to the top of SCDP or whatever it was called by then. Writing taglines, coupons etc, and oh yeah all this under the now-glaring eye of his mentee, a woman for whom only a few short years the job of copywriter was impossible to dream of, much less creative director or whatever title she is by then. None of this would happen on Planet Earth. Oh sure it’s explained away with some talk of non-compete clauses and such, but this is a multi-millionaire who has people like Jim Hobart throwing hookers through his bedroom window & who would be THRILLED to pay whatever legal fees it took to get “famous!” “feared!” Don Draper over to McCann Erickson. But no no, we watch Don bow and scrape to Lou Avery instead (don’t get me started on the TOTAL absurdity of Lou Avery being the CD there). I mean, really - Don has to sit at his desk like a child because Lou won’t let him leave to catch a flight? Really? Millionaire, famous & feared Don Draper?

And I guess towards the end we’re supposed to feel glad Don gets what he wants, which is…working for McCann? As just one of 20 creative directors, when at any moment in the 10 years before if he batted his eyes at Jim Hobart he’d be the King of the Beach at McCann? Really?

Ugh. I'm sure there's tons more but I'm tired of even thinking about it for now; I still love the show and always will but I mean come on already with this shit.

"Yeah sure but have YOU seen Joan walk into the office after getting caught in the pouring rain?"