Get Your Don Draper On

Though it makes for a great Mad Men t-shirt graphic, I don’t know what to think about a fictional character being nominated as 2009′s “Most Influential Man” (according to AskMen.com). I love Mad Men, and Draper’s a dapper hottie to be certain, but he’s a smoking, drinking, cheating one nevertheless. So, who said influential had to mean in a morally positive way?

It’s not as if the show’s creator’s designed Draper to be the perfect man. Still, he’s an ideal for those fed up with today’s standards (i.e. today’s political correctness, today’s rules of self-regulation, today’s women…). There may be no civil rights, but for the average white man Mad Men –and it’s ’60s timeframe– is a flashback to heaven. And Draper –despite his faults, which only seem to complement– is a man’s man:  powerful, confident, always knowing the right thing to say, earning the big $$$ and, most importantly, able get any chick off yesterday or today’s “Most Desired Women” list.

So, why bother analyzing the meaning behind Don Draper being the kind of man that men want to emulate? Well, AskMen’s editor-in-chief James Bassil made an effort to…

“Men are seeking the stability of tradition in the masculine qualities that they imagine their fathers and grandfathers to have had… The character of Don Draper brings all these traits together, and in doing so speaks directly to the modern man. He’s a man whose time has come.”

Mmm, hmmm, tell us more. AskMen.com also called Draper “value-driven” while at the same time being “permanently conflicted over how to reconcile his morals and his desires.”

To say the least – but damn, does he make the effort terribly sexy. Ah yes, the good old days when it was almost expected of you and certainly socially acceptable to be the manly man philanderer. Guess we’ll soon find out if Betty’s indulging has any negative side-effects.

Personally, if I had any say in the matter, my choice for #1 Most Influential (Fictional) Man would have been Entourage‘s obnoxious but torturously devoted Ari Gold. But maybe that would be the answer for some “AskWomen’s” version of the list…. And in the end, ad man Don Draper does look better as an ad logo.

Darby Romeo, Gold Label critic-at-large, was editor / publisher of the popular ‘zine Ben Is Dead, as well as the one-off I Hate Brenda Newsletter, the Lollapalooza Tour Magazine and website Coconut Girl Wireless. She edited and co-wrote the book Retro Hell: Life in the 70s and 80s from Afros to Zotz, and has contributed to Vanity Fair, Alternative Press, Village Voice, The Chicago Tribune and LA Times. Despite all efforts, she’s only a pro-surfer in her mind.