Esquire Created These Mad Men

While reading Breazeale's essay on Esquire's creation and aim I continually related the male imagined community it created to the men of Mad Men. Breazeale argues in order for the creation of the male consumer, Esquire needed women. The magazine continually distanced itself from femininity in order to sell men on the idea of the male consumer. The men of Mad Men are the result of this sale. They look down on all the women they work with, but are very aware of fashion, drink, home decor, gardening, etiquette, and the like. The show, about high powered ad agency men in 1950s New York, depicts the kind of men who would have grown up in a world with Esquire and the male consumer. Not only that but since the men are in the ad agency subjects of consumer identity are brought up in almost every episode. The following commercial for the show that plays like an infomercial accurately depicts the identity of women in the workplace and the men who look down on them.