The latest episode of AMC series Mad Men showed the ugly, sexist side of the advertising business and beyond. The prospective Jaguar client made a request to Pete Campbell and Ken Cosgrove: he would support Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in the upcoming account review, provided Joan Holloway slept with him. The agency partners initially asked Joan to prostitute herself for $50,000. Joan responded by demanding an agency partnership with a 5% stake in the business. Meanwhile, Peggy Olson was put in charge of the other accounts while Don Draper and the men focused on the car pitch—and Don insulted her by throwing money in her face. Peggy then permitted another agency’s principal to throw money in her face with a job offer, which she accepted. Don sought to throw more money at her with a counter offer, but to no avail. Megan Draper and her actress friend almost literally played sex kitten roles, while Pete’s wife Trudy played the shrew. Aspiring actress Megan later appeared for an audition where she was asked to “turn around” and display her curves. There was even a Black reference, with Joan’s mother suggesting hiring a housekeeper by hollering, “Get a colored girl in here—they’re used to being bossed around.” Imagine if the Jaguar client had submitted a requisition for Dawn Chambers. Although in true Matthew Weiner fashion, the secretary was the only female shown respect in the episode—because, dammit, a Black woman would never be mistreated in a 1960s Madison Avenue shop.
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This is what Weiner had to say about the minimal use of Dawn Chambers in Season 5:
""I feel like the expectation that introducing a black character means you have to tell the civil rights struggle is in a way racist," said Weiner. "I use her character the same way I use all the characters on the show. She is there. I'm sorry if people were disappointed. Do I regret there wasn't more of it? Yeah. All I can say is, it's early. We have 26 episodes left. I don't feel like in the history of the United States that 1966 was the year of civil rights; it's early.""
Why are you congratulating this man of his use of a black character? It's a waste of time.
Nobody here is congratulating Weiner on anything—except maybe on being so culturally clueless that he's oblivious to his own ignorance.
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