Mad Women and Advertising

I have spent the last twenty-ish years in marketing, advertising, and branding. I tried to watch the show Mad Men about five different times, but it made me nauseous. I finally got through it and, frankly, loved it. I tried many times because people who found out I worked in advertising would ask me about the show. They wanted to know if it accurately portrayed the industry and culture of agency life. The answer is yes and no, and I don’t actually know.

The show is pretty over-the-top, and it is set in NYC at a moment that I didn’t exist in. I worked in advertising decades later and also in the South. It’s just different. That said, I had such a visceral response to it because I recognized the absurdity and blatant misogyny that were a hallmark of the program and a reality in my professional life. I do not want to put too fine a point on it, but we have all come a long way since the Mad Men days.  Hell, we have come a long way since the show aired.

Here is where I need to take a quick pause to offer caveats. No, not all men. Yes, there are lots of brilliant women. I had a wealth of amazing male colleagues who offered support and comradery.  I have been a part of many healthy and diverse teams. And yet…

Research and surveys indicate that women typically significantly influence purchasing decisions within US households, earning them the title of "chief household officers" or "chief purchasing officers."  Women are often responsible for managing day-to-day household finances, budgeting, and making purchasing decisions for essentials such as groceries, household goods, and clothing. They may have a more detailed understanding of family needs and preferences, making them key decision-makers.  Basically, women are almost always the target audience.  Rare exceptions exist.

I have listened to men rattle off briefs about the target audience while I am the target audience of almost every brief. This is always followed by creative leadership presenting the output of those briefs and explaining to me what the target audience (#thiswomanrighthere) wants and why the ideas are good. It was painful to sit in these rooms and listen to men talk about what women wanted right in front of me while I was frequently the only woman in the room. Fortunately for everyone, including my colleagues, clients, and end consumers, I practice discomfort and operate well in those rooms.  A lot of us do.

I know every professional woman in my industry and others can relate to the experience of speaking up, not being recognized, and hearing the very thing we just said being repeated by a man next to us with a much warmer reception.  I know every woman in my industry has decided whether to promote her idea on her own or hand it over to a male voice that can carry it further. These are just facts.

I worked dozens of jobs before I arrived in advertising, and I experienced harassment in all of them.  I have a pretty sturdy presentation, and thankfully, there is something about me that clearly communicates that I am not here for ass-grabbing flirting or lewd comments.  I am not immune to that stuff, but I have seen women get it way worse than me, and I don’t envy it.  I am more prone to covert forms of harassment that include tactics like ghosting, pretending not to hear me, gaslighting, stealing my ideas, and being talked over in meetings. Some of us survive this kind of environmental threat by being shrill, and others by being agreeable.  I have found another way: a decidedly grounded, kind, and patient truthfulness. Someone once told me that I had a Julia Sugarbaker (IYKY, and if not, here you go) quality to me. They said, “You know how to serve somebody and make them feel genuinely glad you did.”  This is my favorite compliment to date, and since it was said to me, I have taken this skill on and obliged myself to sharpen it continuously.

The Julia Sugarbaker comment was apt. My career has occurred primarily in the Deep South, which feels important to note.  I worked for agencies with fairly progressive cultures.  These progressive agencies would engage with less progressive clients, requiring women (and all intersectional identities) to navigate these relationships with heightened skill, grace, and wisdom.  The business culture immediately differed when I worked for New York and California agencies.  I still experienced conscious and unconscious bias, but overall, I was significantly more comfortable.  I think the big difference was that in these new environments, I operated in spaces with active conversations about equity in the workplace.  There is still a ton of work to do, but I could feel there was more room for my ideas. I also loved asserting my Southern sensibilities in these spaces.  I thought I brought a new and refreshing quality to these teams.

Agencies are better when they accommodate women. Although women comprise about half of the workforce, they hold barely more than 10% of creative leadership roles. This is wild when we consider women's purchasing power! Successful agencies need women to be active participants at every level. Furthermore, we need every kind of woman to participate actively at every level of every agency. The work will get better, and so will the workplace.

Are you a woman who has worked in advertising?  What do you love about it?  What gets hard?  What makes you successful?  Have you worked at an agency that has made mistakes? Did your agency learn from them? How?  Chat me up.