Thoughts on the Mad Men Finale

Way back in 1960 or so, I wrote a high school essay in defense of advertising, in which I proposed that whether or not products ever did for you what they promised to do, sometimes they could help you feel better about yourself for a while. You put on a certain brand of lipstick (I gave up wearing the stuff aeons ago) and while it doesn't substantially change you, for a while you might feel as if it did and sometimes that feeling is something you need to carry you through the day.

I suspect that advertising is a form of modern mythology, telling us stories about ourselves that can sometimes go beyond the merely commercial. That Coke commercial, for instance, became so popular because it spoke to something in the public psyche that went far beyond selling soda to distant lands. I think it's possible that it eventually translated into something much larger, something that today tends to exclude Coca Cola in favor of bed nets.

Good job Weiner!