If you have not yet seen Mad Men, and do not want to be spoiled, STOP reading this right now.
Last night’s episode dealt with a $4 million defense industry (North American Aviation) contract that Pete Campbell had worked for three years to win. I loved lots of things about this episode, including the fact that it’s taken him three years to get close to their business…
and that Don had to get a security clearance to work on it.
Uh-oh.
Filling out a form has never been so dramatic.
Needless to say, Don is NOT hauled away at the end of the episode in part because Weasel Pete does Don a good turn, and…well, all the data we have now doesn’t exist back then. (But stay tuned…)
So the question I have: could someone like Don Draper exist in our current data-intensive environment?
Loved this post…was telling a friend about it today. They always get the details right on that show
Big Mad Men fan. And a Don Draper/Dick Whitman could never exist these days. With as much of a paper trail as we leave behind on an every day basis, he’d never be able to cover his tracks well enough.
I know you didn’t bring it up in your post, but allow me to digress from the government focus and ask what the hell Roger thinks he’s gonna do about losing the Lucky Strike account. It was bad enough news that they lost North American Aviation and that Lane was taking a leave of absence (so sad), but I’m not sure just lying about losing LS was the right move.
@GovLoop: Thanks! @Daniel–I kind of think of this as Sal’s revenge, the LS loss. One hopes he’s thriving somewhere. And yes, Lane’s “leave” is very sad. Hope if he goes back, he starts a Swinging 60s agency, complete with Pop Art paintings.
But to stay on topic, I also wonder whether Dick/Don’s fishy identity isn’t eventually going to have an impact on Henry’s political aspirations.
Martha! You inspired me to create a new group!
https://www.govloop.com/group/govtvandmoviejunkies