While Matthew Weiner and his team have spun up some beautiful pitches for Don Draper to present throughout Mad Men, the real ads of the day were a little less... poetic. On last Sunday's episode Joan is seen flipping through the May 1970 issue of McCall's, which we purchased—below, a glimpse at what ad campaigns looked like in women's glossies back then.
McCall's demographic was undoubtedly the housewife set—in fact in 1972 it was rebranded with the slogan: The Magazine for Suburban Women. It was part of a competitive group at the time called the Seven Sisters (along with Ladies' Home Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Redbook and Woman's Day).
In March of 1970, an 11-hour sit-in was held at the Ladies' Home Journal's office, demanding changes in these (and other) women's magazines, with women objecting to the focus "on beauty and housework while perpetuating the myths of the patriarchal establishment."
And that brings us to our first ad, which ran in McCall's in 1970—"Off your knees, girls"!
Decades after the Sloppy Joe was invented (originally called a "loose meat sandwich," gross), there was Manwhich. The product, which was simply canned and seasoned tomato sauce, was introduced in 1969... and this is probably exactly how the creatives at SC&P would have handled the campaign. "Why be a housewife when you can serve a MANWICH and become a temptress?" We can almost see Peggy rolling her eyes in the pitch meeting.
On a non-feminist front, here's a great parallel between an ad campaign SC&P had to create, vs. one in the real world. If you thought Peggy's pitch to Heinz Baked Beans for "The Bean Ballet" was bad (watch it here), check out this real ad for baked beans in 1970.
By 1972, Joan would have been able to flip through Ms. magazine, founded by Gloria Steinem and Letty Cottin Pogrebin.
