The first ‘Mad’ man
’60s industry guru isn’t sold on today’s series
Millions got their long-awaited “Mad Men” fix Sunday night with the return of AMC’S wildly popular drama chronicling the goings-on at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
But George Lois, the legendary ad man and art director some call the real Don Draper — not to his face, trust me — couldn’t care less.
The show turns what was an amazingly creative and courageous time in his business into a perverse fiction of bums and skirt-chasers, says Lois.
In the 1960s, his 92 famous Esquire magazine covers captured the country’s unsettled vibe like lightning in a bottle, addressing subjects ranging from shifting gender roles to Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball, the My Lai Massacre and racial politics.
At 80, Lois is still going strong. He works with his son, Luke, on campaigns, plays basketball at the Y and has just published his 10th book, “Damn Good Advice (for people with talent!),” (Phaidon, $9.95, phaidon.com).
It’s a guide for unleashing one’s creative potential, based on Lois’ experiences as the guru of ’60s advertising and the creative genius behind hundreds of memorable campaigns, including work for MTV, ESPN and Tommy Hilfiger.
At his art director's dream of a Greenwich Village apartment, I interviewed Lois about the ’60s, “Mad Men” and whether there are any Big Ideas left. In your new book, you talk about the importance of the Big Idea. What was advertising’s Big Idea in the ’60s?
By 1964, the time when “Mad Men” takes place, there was a full-blown creative revolution. It started with Bill Bernbach at Doyle Dane Bernbach. Bill hired me. Then I left DDB and started my own creative agency with Fred Papert and Julian Koenig. The creative guys ran everything. The money guys didn’t run it. The account guys didn’t run it. There ended up being six or seven agencies that were run by the creatives. They did bright, sharp stuff. It was witty. For the first time, people watched commercials and talked about them the next day at work. So I’d have to say that the creative revolution was the Big Idea in advertising in the ’60s.
How accurately do you think “Mad Men” reflects the advertising business in the ’60s?
The funny thing is, the show is considered glamorous, in a perverse way. Since the show started, art school enrollment has doubled, influenced by the “Mad Men” show. And the show is a bunch of guys who are bums and do s— advertising and all they try to do is get laid. It really made the ’60s a perverse time in the history of advertising, when it was actually a heroic time. In order to do the type of advertising we did, you had to be courageous. We had to fight the clients to make them billionaires. The other night, you met “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner and actors Jon Hamm and John Slattery at a Newsweek party for its ’60s double issue. What was that like?
When I walked into the room, all three were sitting at the bar and drinking, just like on the show. I went up and introduced myself and Matthew Weiner said: “Oh my God, you’re George Lois. I’m thrilled to meet you. You were very important to the show.”
Did you ask where your check was?
(Laughs.) Of all the ad campaigns you worked on, which was your favorite?
I did a Braniff Airline ad (1967) where I paired opposites seated next to one another on a plane — Whitey Ford and Salvador Dali, Mickey Spillane and Marianne Moore, Andy Warhol and Sonny Liston. Andy had to say, “When you got it, flaunt it.” But I ended up having to dub his voice. Later, after I sent him a copy of all the commercials, he told me that he said the line better than anybody. Braniff had 30% occupancy on the flights from New York to Dallas/ Forth Worth and we filled the planes with that campaign.
which was your favorite?
It’s got to be Muhammad Ali as Saint Sebastian (April 1968) to illustrate his troubles with the draft. Because he was now a Muslim and was depicting a Christian martyr pierced by arrows, I had to get on the phone with Elijah Muhammad and convince him to allow Ali to do the shoot. As I watched him pose, Ali would point to each arrow and say, “This one is Lyndon Johnson. This one is William Westmoreland. This one is Robert Mcnamara,” pointing out who his tormentors were. When that cover came out, it stunned America. Returning to my original question: What is the Big Idea in advertising today?
There is no Big Idea today.