Author David Leddick crituqes “Mad Men”'s view of what it was like to be gay in advertising in the 50's and 60's. Leddick, who went from writer to creative director from the 50's through the 80's, says the show's representation of the single gay character, Salvatore, isn't accurate. In the show he's fired by the fictional ad agency for being more open about his sexuality. But Leddick says it wasn't like that. "But there were plenty of gays who, like me, didn't bother to stay in the closet, succeeded, and thrived in this tough world," he writes. "Yes, some agencies were like the one where Don Draper works. But these stuffy, old-line agencies were the big ones -- BBDO, J. Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett -- not agencies like Draper's."
advertisement
advertisement
As everyone is buzzing about the Mad Men moment when Bob Benson brushed his knee against Petes, setting tongues wagging about Bob's possible homosexuality, the real Mad Men of mid-century Madison Avenue produced some real ads with homoerotic subtext of their own. For a look at some unintentionally gay vintage ads take a peek.http://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2013/06/12/unintentionally-gay-ads-does-he-or-doesnt-he/