The Real Mad Men of Advertising

Advertising boomed in the 1950s thanks to the growing power of the television commercial. Explore its glory days through nostalgic commercials and clips from “Mad Men” to see how the ad industry shaped pop culture.

Youth became an ad world obsession in the 1960s just as young people started rejecting consumerism and “the Man.” See how the advertising industry co-opted the counterculture so it could keep selling things to an audience that didn’t want to buy.

Watch the advertising industry adapt to the 1970s, when it faced a recession, consumers who were increasingly suspicious of corporations, and a government that regulated the business of selling like never before.

Revisit the 1980s, when greed was good and Brooke Shields slipped into her Calvin’s. Get an inside look at how the advertising industry adapted to the infomercial revolution, cable tv exploded, and commercials became their own form of entertainment.