Ethics and Creativity in Madmen

I teach Introduction to Management at Brooklyn College.  The distance learning software we use nowadays is called "Blackboard" (NYU, Troy State and Brooklyn College have all used it since about 10 years ago).  I just posted a discussion assignment on the course's Blackboard site for this fall's class. One of the subjects in the course is "creativity" and the question I'm raising is whether there are ethical limits to creativity.  I use AMC's TV series Madmen to raise two discussion questions. The links to the Madmen and television advertisement clips are below.

The questions I raise are as follows.

After reading chapter two and after the class discussion on creativity go to blackboard's "external links" folder "Creativity and Ethics in Madmen" (see links below). Watch the five Youtube clips in the folder. The first two are of 1950s Lucky Strike TV commercials. The third is of a 1960s Eastman Kodak camera commercial. The fourth and fifth are from the TV series Madmen. They depict the fictitious creative genius behind the fictitious Sterling Cooper advertising firm, Don Draper (note the allusion to drapes, draping, hiding, the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain). The fourth clip is of Draper creating the Lucky Strike advertising strategy. The fifth is of Draper creating the ad campaign for Eastman Kodak's carousel (a picture slide display device) which is similar to the Eastman Kodak ad shown.

(1) What are the benefits of advertising?  What arguments can be made to justify the ethical foundations of Don Draper's approach to advertising? 


(2) Are there moral limits to emotional manipulation? For example, is a government which uses patriotism to motivate loyalty despite policies which are harmful to the public ethical? Likewise, is a firm which uses love, happiness, freedom and similar virtues to motivate sales of products ethical? If so, what are the limits? If not, is it realistic to expect managers to adhere to strict ethical standards? 

(3) Elaborate on the question of whether Don Draper is ethical in using higher order emotions, happiness and familial love to sell cigarettes that he knows kill and photography supplies given the gains from advertising.
External Links

Lucky Strike ad 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeUAhuSzSDs


Luck Strike ad 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWj_tR64Ti4

1960s Kodak ad, “Turn around”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWVWjdNWC0

Madmen clip: Lucky Strike: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5rQF7Ofc5w

Comment: AMC's excellent Madmen series is supposed to be about the advertising business in the early 1960s, but as you can see from the above the "It's Toasted" concept was already established in the 1950s and earlier (1917 according to Wikipedia). Also, American Tobacco, founded by James Buchanan Duke (cf: Duke University), owned the Lucky Strike brand and it was not a family run operation by the 1960s (the US Supreme Court broke up American Tobacco, the Tobacco Trust, in 1911). Famed heiress Doris Duke who died in 1993 was Duke's only child.

Nevertheless, this scene gives a cool illustration of a creative process. In the episode, the hero, the brilliant and creative Don Draper (Jon Hamm), is asked to think of an ad campaign for Lucky Strike cigarettes to address the recent findings that cigarettes cause cancer. He thinks about it for weeks but cannot come up with an idea. At the beginning of the meeting with the tobacco executives, he still draws a blank. After consulting a psychologist, he is still speechless. His account exec, Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) quotes the psychologist to fill the gap (Campbell is sneaky and the implication is that he stole the research from Draper's trash can).

Just as the tobacco executives are walking out, Draper's light bulb lights: the cancer finding is a strategic opportunity to appeal to higher order needs like happiness. Lucky Strike is "toasted."

Madmen clip: Kodak carousel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus

The Eastman Kodak executives are interviewing ad firms to handle their new product, which they call "the wheel." You put slides in the wheel and then click to turn the wheel to the next slide. They have told Don Draper and his boss, Herman "Duck" Phillips (Mark Moses), media director Harry Crane (Rich Sommer), and art director Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt) that their firm, Sterling Cooper, is one of four or five they are interviewing.

Draper uses his own wedding pictures, pictures of his wife Betty (January Jones), his children and himself to show that the product should be named the "carousel", not the wheel, because it is reminiscent of childhood and evokes the nostalgia of bringing up children that the "carousel" can capture--the deep feelings the consumer has for his or her own children, the nostalgia for the past and perhaps their own childhoods. "It takes us where we ache to go again. It lets us travel like child. The carousel."

Harry Crane leaves the room as he breaks into tears. The Kodak executives are speechless. Phillips confidently looks at the Eastman Kodak executives and says "Good luck at your next meeting."

A First Lady of the (Highly Paid) People

Jim Crum sent me this list of salaries of Michelle Obama's staff.  Note that five of her staff earn over $100,000 per year. I am certain that they make major contributions to the public welfare. Certain.

 

1. $ 172,2000  - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff) 

2. $140,000  - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director
    of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)

3.  $113,000  - Rogers, Desiree G.  (Special Assistant to the President and
    White House Social Secretary) 
4.  $102,000  - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and
    Director of Communications for the First Lady) 
5.  $100,000  - Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and
    Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
6.  $90,000  -  Medina   , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady) 
7.  $84,000  - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First
    Lady) 
8.  $75,000  - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the
    First Lady) 
9.  $70,000  - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the
    First Lady) 
10.  $65,000  - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social
    Secretary) 
11.  $64,000  - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social
    Secretary) 
12.  $62,000  - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events
    Coordinator For The First Lady) 
13.  $60,000  - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for
    the First Lady) 
14.  $57,500  - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First
    Lady) 
15.  $52,500  - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press
    Secretary to The First Lady) 
16.  $50,000  - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special=2 0Assistant for Scheduling and
    Traveling Aide to The First Lady) 
17.  $45,000  - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For
    The First Lady) 
18.  $43,000  - Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office) 
19.  $40,000  - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to
    the First Lady) 
20.  $36,000  - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary) 
21.  $35,000  - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)

Catalano Resigns as Chair of Ulster County GOP

Robin Yess just forwarded this e-mail to me.  Mario Catalano's resignation as chair of the Ulster County GOP opens a race for county chair to Robin, a liberty-oriented Republican, and Roger Rascoe, a retired corrections officer whose wife works for State Senator Bonacic.

From: ...@aol.com [mailto:...@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 9:36 PM
To: ...com; ...@hvi.net; ...@hvc.rr.comp
Subject: Re: County Reorganizational Meeting

Dear Republicans, the county reorganizational  meeting will be held Thursday September 16th this year. In compliance with the new bylaws, voting for the next chairman will be conducted using a weighted vote for the first time. As we successfully accomplished the selection of our Comptroller candidate using this method, I feel confident in our ability to get it done again.

I am also writing to inform you that I will not be seeking re-election as County Chair. When I originally sought the position, I made it clear that I would serve for 3 to 5 years and then pass the gavel to someone else. This September will be 3 years, and so it is time to move on.

I do not believe that anyone should serve a long term as chair, as I firmly believe that it is important to the party to have a continuous flow of "new blood" to make sure that we remain energized. I would encourage you all to ask each of the candidates how they feel about that.

I also wish to thank each and every one of you for your assistance during these past 3 years. I believe the party is rebounding from years of apathy and neglect. This is evidenced by our winning two county wide races for open seats in the District Attorney's office and County Judge race. We also overwhelmingly re-elected our County Clerk last year. Even in the Obama Tsunami, we almost pulled out a win in the Comptrollers race.  On top of that, when I became chairman, we were a 12-21 minority in the legislature. In 3 years we  now have a 18-15 majority.To all of you who assisted in these efforts I say well done.

One final note. A letter will be going out to each committee person shortly. As leaders, I am giving each of you a "heads up", so you will not be caught off guard.

Finally, I will pledge my support to whomever you select to secede me. I will continue to work to elect Republicans, and will be available to help each and everyone of you should you require my assistance.

May God Bless America, and all of you,

Mario T Catalano

Chairman

Ulster County Republican Committee

My Piece Too Politically Incorrect for Karkhanis's Patriot Returns

My good friend Sharad Karkhanis publishes a newsletter that goes to about 13,000 City University of New York faculty and employees called Patriot Returns. To give you an idea as to how controversial Patriot Returns is, Sharad just settled a multi-year libel suit by one of the union officers whom he had ruthlessly satirized for years.  Sharad has asked me to write for him a number of times, most recently concerning David Seidemann's law suit against the faculty union and concerning the Charles Rangel Center at the City University of New York (forthcoming). 

But even Patriot Returns is too tame for some of my stuff.    I had submitted a piece to him concerning an article in the faculty union's newsletter, the Clarion.  Karkhanis told me that it is simply too controversial even for Patriot Returns.  The New Caucus is the extreme left-wing "party" that runs the CUNY faculty union. I suppose my claim that the CUNY faculty is more racist than the membership of the Tea Party is simply too hot for anyone in academia to handle, even though it is true.

 New Caucus Racism

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D. *

Recently, William Tabb, professor emeritus of Queens College, made accusations of racism against the so-called Tea Party in the pages of the Clarion, the newsletter of the CUNY faculty union.  In fact, the Tea Party is a highly decentralized and diverse group that is scattered across thousands of locales around the country. Racism may exist in some locales, just as racism may exist in some quarters of CUNY.   I have attended eight meetings of the Kingston/Rhinebeck Tea Party near my home town as well as one or two in my home town of Olive, New York.  I did not detect a single instance of racism.  There is more racism on the CUNY faculty than in the Kingston/Rhinebeck Tea Party.  I very much doubt that Professor Tabb or the NAACP have done any research as to whether there is actual racism.  I am a former contributer to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which made similar kinds of irresponsible allegations. I voiced my concerns to Morris Dees, the founder, directly, and have ceased any involvement with that organization.  

Competent academic research poses hypotheses and then attempts to falsify them through evidence.  Professor Tabb offers no evidence. Rather, he asserts unfounded, lynch-mob style accusations.  This disturbs me.  Professor Tabb is a distinguished professor from Queens College.  If his standards are so low as to make wild, ungrounded accusations about Tea Party racism one must wonder about standards among the New Caucus in general.

 In response to Professor Tabb's allegations of racism, I did an informal survey of the Professional Staff Congress's representation of various minorities.  I counted the number of African-Americans, Native Americans, Mexicans, Asians and South Americans in its leadership group.  My finding is that the proportion of minorities who are officers of the Professional Staff Congress is lower than the proportion of minority group members who have have attended the Kingston/Rhinebeck Tea Party.  In other words, the evidence is that Barbara Bowen, Steve London and the rest of the New Caucus are MORE RACIST THAN THE TEA PARTY.

My affirmative action plan is straightforward. The CUNY faculty needs to replace PSC's president, Barabara Bowen.

*Mitchell Langbert is associate professor of business at Brooklyn College. He blogs at http://www.mitchell-langbert.blogspot.com.