9851: Mad At Mad Men.

Advertising Age reported New Yorkers are upset by outdoor billboards promoting the upcoming season of Mad Men (depicted above), claiming the falling Don Draper graphic evokes images of 9/11. Interestingly enough, no one has ever expressed concern that the animated figure—which has illustrated the show’s opening title sequence since the beginning—actually evokes images of all the real adpeople who have jumped from high-rise buildings.

Controversy Brews Over Ads Promoting New Season of AMC’s ‘Mad Men’

Family Members of 9/11 Victims Complain Falling-Man Images Recall Those of Tragedy

By Rupal Parekh

Just weeks before the much-awaited return of AMC’s “Mad Men,” a promotional campaign for the fifth season of the hit show about 1960’s Madison Avenue is sparking controversy as some folks say it evokes images from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In question is a minimalist image featured on billboards, on public telephone booths and in subway stations. It depicts a man wearing a suit stenciled in black, as he falls through the sky against a stark white background. Several family members of 9/11 victims told the New York Times that for them, the image conjures the memory of people forced to jump out of the crumbling, blazing Twin Towers more than 10 years ago.

The sudden outrage suggests that many Americans aren’t familiar with the show, since this image of the falling man has been utilized in the show’s opening credits and has been emblematic of the series—and its lead character, Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm—from the beginning.

Wikipedia notes that the title sequences pay homage to graphic designer Saul Bass’s skyscraper-filled opening titles for Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” and the falling-man movie poster for “Vertigo.” The show’s creator, Matthew Weiner, has listed Hitchcock as a major influence on the visual style of the series, says the Wikipedia page.

That the posters are now causing a stir is likely due to heightened outdoor and print advertising around the show’s fifth season, as well as a recent article in Esquire that made the comparison to 9/11.

AMC denies any link between its advertising and 9/11. In a statement, the network told the New York Times: “The image of Don Draper tumbling through space has been used since the show began in 2007 to represent a man whose life is in turmoil. The image used in the campaign is intended to serve as a metaphor for what is happening in Don Draper’s fictional life and in no way references actual events.”