The Don Draper Effect

Over at the Christian Science Monitor they are getting concerned about the effect Don Draper is having on the American TV watching public. We all know Don as the chain smoking, booze drinking, womanizer of the hit show Mad Men. He is characterized as someone who is almost not human — he speaks very little, shares almost nothing about himself, and comes across like he has no soul. We know he keeps secrets from Betty and we know that he is an adulterer. Just the mere fact that he’s successful in advertising should give the viewers an idea that he’s not a moral person.

In any case, Katherine Stephen over at the Christian Science Monitor is criticizing the show because AMC has yet to give the viewer any sort of moral compass. It’s somewhat of a complicated situation in that Don Draper, the character, is having a real effect on real people. I suppose this is true of many television characters and the inability for much of the television watching public to figure out for themselves what is real and what is not. I agree with much of what Katherine is saying but where I diverge is where she lays blame. I don’t believe it to be the responsibility of the writers to give the viewer an opinion on whether Don Draper is a good person or a bad person. It’s up to the viewer to make that decision for themselves. If people are finding that Don Draper is a bad roll model for America then that’s their problem. People are smart but rather lazy. They can’t make decisions for themselves. If they could we wouldn’t need religion.

So as the Don Draper effect becomes more real in everyday world — with real companies such as Burburry and BMW sponsoring the show and creating product lines around the characters — we need to realize that much of what’s being sold to us is complete and utter bullshit to begin with. In fact that’s much of the show’s premise. If you watch the show and then fall victim to the irony that comes with the commercial break — you’d understand that we as Americans need to start making decisions for ourselves.