《广告狂人》令女广告人爱恨交织

    上周五，广告公司李奥贝纳（Leo Burnett）举办了一个“《广告狂人》归来”的派对，公司执行创意总监吉安妮•卡贾诺必须决定是穿得像性感而强势的执行秘书琼•哈里斯，还是……她眨眨眼说：“或许我会尝试女扮男装，穿成（《广告狂人》男主角）唐•德雷柏那样。”

    如果要让Organic的执行创意总监凯琳•帕斯克在这部以60年代一家虚拟广告公司为背景的AMC电视剧中选一个人物乔装打扮的话，她自称肯定会选择伊丽莎白•莫斯出演的佩吉•奥尔森。佩吉是《广告狂人》中唯一的女文案，才华横溢，工作忘我，但仍需为地位而斗争。帕斯克称：“很多时候我的身边都是男性——因为这个行业中就是有这么多男性。”

    广告界很多女性都在翘首等待这部热门电视剧新一季的开播。断档近18个月后，《广告狂人》（Mad Men）第五季于周日开演，再次献上峰回路转的情节和细致入微的角色刻画，而剧中的人物则为希尔顿（Hilton）、好彩（Lucky Strike）和伦敦雾（London Fog）等品牌提供广告服务。

    这部四度摘得“艾美最佳剧集奖”的电视剧拥趸者无数，第五季开播后粉丝们将密切留意种种伏笔，猜测剧中人物职业和感情生活的走向。虽然《广告狂人》更多地将职场女性视为花瓶，但广告界很多女性都对这部电视剧的剧情交口称赞，声称很多情节都与她们工作场所上演的情景类似。

    “我感觉这是我看过的唯一能真实反映广告行业的电视剧，”卡贾诺表示。目睹《广告狂人》一剧主角、剧中广告公司创意总监唐•德雷柏向柯达（Kodak）演示圆形幻灯片投影机广告那一幕，甚至激励卡贾诺完成了一次客户推介会。她说：“我的推介时非常流畅。我们赢了。艺术再次照进了现实。”

    当然，不是所有女性都喜欢这部电视剧。它“勾起了太多不堪回首的记忆……在那个年代，女性是二等公民，经常遭到轻视，”劳拉•查平在《美国新闻》（US News）上刊登的一篇评论中写道。作为共和党的传播策略师，查平不喜欢片中对女性的歧视，不打算收看。

    底特律广告公关公司Brogan & Partners的创始人兼主管玛西亚•布罗根表示会收看第五季，她从第一季开播以来就一直在追看。“我认为它从（第一季的）额头五分钟开始就非常吸引人。”剧中有些场景简直就是直接照搬了她早年的一些广告业从业经历（她于1972年入行）。“我工作的第一家广告公司不像剧中的Sterling Cooper那样开明，”她回忆说，而且那时干活必须更拼命。时至今日，她依然记得有一位女性美术指导“因为没有默许上司献殷勤而被解雇。”

    布罗根说，如今广告行业在很多方面都已经取得了长足进步，“性、毒品和摇滚不再是当今的广告界标志。广告更多地成了一门生意，”而不再是一个联谊会所。布罗根自称拥有一个唐•德雷柏玩偶。

    When ad firm Leo Burnett throws a "'Mad Men' is back" party on Friday, executive creative officer Jeanie Caggiano will have to decide whether she's dressing up as Joan Harris, the sexy yet powerful executive secretary, or, she says with a wink, "I might try going in drag as Don Draper."

    If Karyn Pascoe were going to dress as a character from the AMC (AMCX) television series about a fictional 1960s advertising agency, she says she'd almost certainly be Peggy Olson, played by Elisabeth Moss. Peggy is the lone female copywriter, smart and engaged yet struggling for her standing. "There's so many times when I'm surrounded by all guys -- just because there's so many in the industry," says Pascoe, who's executive creative director at Organic.

    Many women in advertising are eagerly awaiting the return of the hit television show, which has been in between seasons for almost 18 months. "Mad Men's" fifth season debuts on Sunday, a return to the plot twists and nuanced characters who have worked on ads for brands like Hilton, Lucky Strike, and London Fog.

    The four-time "outstanding drama" Emmy Award-winning show's fans will be watching closely for initial clues as to what happens to characters' careers and love lives. And despite its sexualized portrayal of women in the office, many women in advertising praise the show for its storytelling and say that many of the stories are similar to ones that play out in their workplaces today.

    "I feel like it is the only show I've ever seen about advertising that gets it right," says Caggiano. She once inspired herself to make a client pitch by watching the show's protagonist and ad firm creative director Don Draper in action. It was a scene where Draper pitches to Kodak brass on an ad for its carousel projector. "I was so channeling that in my pitch. We won. Life imitating art yet again," she says.

    To be sure, not every woman appreciates the show. It "brings back too many bad memories … of a time when women were second-class citizens, belittled on a daily basis," writes Laura K. Chapin in a US News opinion piece. Chapin, a Democratic communications strategist, doesn't like the sexism and won't be tuning in.

    Marcie Brogan, founder and head of Detroit-area Brogan & Partners, plans to watch it as she has since its start. "I thought it was a stunning show from the first five minutes" of the first episode, she says. Some of the scenes seem to jump from her early days in advertising (She started in 1972). "The agency I started at was not as liberal as Sterling Cooper," she recalls, noting it was more nose to the grindstone. Still, she recalls a female art director who "was fired for not acquiescing to the attentions of her superior."

    The industry has advanced in many ways, Brogan says. "The sex, drugs, and rock and roll are not indicative of today's ad world. It's much more of a business" and much less of a fraternity house, says Brogan, who says she owns a Don Draper doll.