Something Rich and Strange

When people ask me if I watch “Mad Men,” the award-winning series about mostly male ad execs in the 60s and the women that make them look good, I say no and explain why: because, from my perspective, there’s a lot that hasn’t changed since then. And it’s just too damn depressing. On the other hand, those heavy-handed sexist ads have changed, right? [Editor’s note: Readers younger than 45, please skip to the next paragraph.] Remember those airline ads from the 70's featuring a nubile woman in hot pants who says “I’m Bambi, fly me” (or words to that effect) that give sexual innuendo a bad name? That’s what I thought until I recently saw a commercial for “Just Men” hair color. Except in this commercial, it was the man being (potentially) sexually exploited. Somehow this equal opportunity sexism is not “refreshing.”

Here’s the “plot.” Two guys are up for a position; one younger and the other older as denoted by his gray hair. The man and woman doing the hiring confer about whether “energy” (young guy) or “experience” (gray guy) is key (the blatant ageism here is for another post; one “ism” at a time.). In the end, neither is compromised as we see the older guy now with darker hair accompanying the attractive and younger woman who presumably just hired him along an office hallway. She says, and I’m not making this up, in a rather salacious way, “I’ve got big plans for you.” Ewwwww.

OK. I’m going out on a limb here, but what man or woman would want the outcome of their job search to end in the likelihood that their boss or the person who hired them was throwing double entendres their way before the ink on the W-4 was dry? Such a situation will not end well; just ask Mark Hurd and his ilk.

We’ve come a short way, baby.