《广告狂人》令女广告人爱恨交织
Vickie Elmer | 2012-03-27 13:49
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虽然美剧《广告狂人》更多地将职场女性塑造成花瓶,但广告界很多女性仍然热切期待这部热门电视剧重返荧屏。
上周五,广告公司李奥贝纳(Leo Burnett)举办了一个“《广告狂人》归来”的派对,公司执行创意总监吉安妮•卡贾诺必须决定是穿得像性感而强势的执行秘书琼•哈里斯,还是……她眨眨眼说:“或许我会尝试女扮男装,穿成(《广告狂人》男主角)唐•德雷柏那样。” 如果要让Organic的执行创意总监凯琳•帕斯克在这部以60年代一家虚拟广告公司为背景的AMC电视剧中选一个人物乔装打扮的话,她自称肯定会选择伊丽莎白•莫斯出演的佩吉•奥尔森。佩吉是《广告狂人》中唯一的女文案,才华横溢,工作忘我,但仍需为地位而斗争。帕斯克称:“很多时候我的身边都是男性——因为这个行业中就是有这么多男性。” 广告界很多女性都在翘首等待这部热门电视剧新一季的开播。断档近18个月后,《广告狂人》(Mad Men)第五季于周日开演,再次献上峰回路转的情节和细致入微的角色刻画,而剧中的人物则为希尔顿(Hilton)、好彩(Lucky Strike)和伦敦雾(London Fog)等品牌提供广告服务。 这部四度摘得“艾美最佳剧集奖”的电视剧拥趸者无数,第五季开播后粉丝们将密切留意种种伏笔,猜测剧中人物职业和感情生活的走向。虽然《广告狂人》更多地将职场女性视为花瓶,但广告界很多女性都对这部电视剧的剧情交口称赞,声称很多情节都与她们工作场所上演的情景类似。 “我感觉这是我看过的唯一能真实反映广告行业的电视剧,”卡贾诺表示。目睹《广告狂人》一剧主角、剧中广告公司创意总监唐•德雷柏向柯达(Kodak)演示圆形幻灯片投影机广告那一幕,甚至激励卡贾诺完成了一次客户推介会。她说:“我的推介时非常流畅。我们赢了。艺术再次照进了现实。” 当然,不是所有女性都喜欢这部电视剧。它“勾起了太多不堪回首的记忆……在那个年代,女性是二等公民,经常遭到轻视,”劳拉•查平在《美国新闻》(US News)上刊登的一篇评论中写道。作为共和党的传播策略师,查平不喜欢片中对女性的歧视,不打算收看。 底特律广告公关公司Brogan & Partners的创始人兼主管玛西亚•布罗根表示会收看第五季,她从第一季开播以来就一直在追看。“我认为它从(第一季的)额头五分钟开始就非常吸引人。”剧中有些场景简直就是直接照搬了她早年的一些广告业从业经历(她于1972年入行)。“我工作的第一家广告公司不像剧中的Sterling Cooper那样开明,”她回忆说,而且那时干活必须更拼命。时至今日,她依然记得有一位女性美术指导“因为没有默许上司献殷勤而被解雇。” 布罗根说,如今广告行业在很多方面都已经取得了长足进步,“性、毒品和摇滚不再是当今的广告界标志。广告更多地成了一门生意,”而不再是一个联谊会所。布罗根自称拥有一个唐•德雷柏玩偶。 | When ad firm Leo Burnett throws a "'Mad Men' is back" party on Friday, executive creative officer Jeanie Caggiano will have to decide whether she's dressing up as Joan Harris, the sexy yet powerful executive secretary, or, she says with a wink, "I might try going in drag as Don Draper." If Karyn Pascoe were going to dress as a character from the AMC (AMCX) television series about a fictional 1960s advertising agency, she says she'd almost certainly be Peggy Olson, played by Elisabeth Moss. Peggy is the lone female copywriter, smart and engaged yet struggling for her standing. "There's so many times when I'm surrounded by all guys -- just because there's so many in the industry," says Pascoe, who's executive creative director at Organic. Many women in advertising are eagerly awaiting the return of the hit television show, which has been in between seasons for almost 18 months. "Mad Men's" fifth season debuts on Sunday, a return to the plot twists and nuanced characters who have worked on ads for brands like Hilton, Lucky Strike, and London Fog. The four-time "outstanding drama" Emmy Award-winning show's fans will be watching closely for initial clues as to what happens to characters' careers and love lives. And despite its sexualized portrayal of women in the office, many women in advertising praise the show for its storytelling and say that many of the stories are similar to ones that play out in their workplaces today. "I feel like it is the only show I've ever seen about advertising that gets it right," says Caggiano. She once inspired herself to make a client pitch by watching the show's protagonist and ad firm creative director Don Draper in action. It was a scene where Draper pitches to Kodak brass on an ad for its carousel projector. "I was so channeling that in my pitch. We won. Life imitating art yet again," she says. To be sure, not every woman appreciates the show. It "brings back too many bad memories … of a time when women were second-class citizens, belittled on a daily basis," writes Laura K. Chapin in a US News opinion piece. Chapin, a Democratic communications strategist, doesn't like the sexism and won't be tuning in. Marcie Brogan, founder and head of Detroit-area Brogan & Partners, plans to watch it as she has since its start. "I thought it was a stunning show from the first five minutes" of the first episode, she says. Some of the scenes seem to jump from her early days in advertising (She started in 1972). "The agency I started at was not as liberal as Sterling Cooper," she recalls, noting it was more nose to the grindstone. Still, she recalls a female art director who "was fired for not acquiescing to the attentions of her superior." The industry has advanced in many ways, Brogan says. "The sex, drugs, and rock and roll are not indicative of today's ad world. It's much more of a business" and much less of a fraternity house, says Brogan, who says she owns a Don Draper doll. |
即便是今天,女性在广告界高管中仍属凤毛麟角,虽然中层管理人员中已有相当多的女性。2011年Catalyst Census调查显示,有几家广告和信息公司,包括麦格劳-希尔(McGraw Hill)、新闻集团(News Corp.)和宏盟集团(Omnicom Group)等都没有女性高管。今年,美国最大的广告行业协会——美国广告公司协会(American Association of Advertising Agencies)的27名董事会成员中只有6人是女性。 即便是在Catalyst研究中表现最好的维亚康姆(Viacom)和时代华纳有线电视(Time Warner Cable)等公司,公布的女性高管占比也只略高于30%,约为财富500强公司女性高管占比14.1%的两倍。 相比之下,美国劳工统计局(Bureau of Labor Statistics)的数据显示,2010年在7.1万个广告和推广经理职位中女性占比为2/3,广告销售职位占比近半(46%),营销和销售经理占比也达到了43%。 然而,据AMC的一位发言人称,女性是《广告狂人》一剧收视人群的绝对主力,在第四季所有观众中的占比达到了57%。 令卡贾诺感兴趣的是今昔客户态度的相似之处以及剧情描述的办公室罗曼史。她说:“我们可以看到,必须要说服,有时还需要引导客户……去做正确的事情。”同时,卡贾诺认为,德雷柏能在酒吧里或上班乘车途中洞察人性,这种能力在当今依然重要。“即便是有六英尺厚的资料……各方面的研究铺天盖地,我最好的点子还是来自于对人的观察,就和剧中人物一样。” 对于剧中男女相遇的场景,最后或是在办公室内鱼水相欢,或是海誓山盟,卡贾诺认为也很真实。她说:“我和我的丈夫就是在办公室相遇的。很多很多我认识的其他夫妻也是因为广告行业才走到了一起。”据她透露,至少有30对夫妻在李奥贝纳相遇并结婚。当年,她的丈夫杰瑞•卡贾诺的办公室比她低了五层。“格子间的设计几乎已经让办公室里的鱼水之欢绝迹了。” 剧中最有权势的女性可能是至今还一直保守着德雷柏身份秘密的前妻贝蒂,也可能是掌管着秘书室的红发女郎琼,第四季她被擢升至高级行政职务——但薪水没有涨。不过,当今广告界的很多女性更多地自比佩吉,这位干劲十足、由秘书半路出家的文案人员。 “我想整个业内,可能人人都觉得自己是佩吉,”洛杉矶72andSunny公司的战略总监凯利•肖弗称。“我们必须要非常顽强,不断抗争。她为求得认可而抗争。她真的非常看重自己的工作。” 至于唐•德雷柏,肖弗表示,她的广告公司永远不会聘这样的人,她更看重合作以及团队合作,而不是个人主义。而且,她说,他这种“受尽煎熬、迷恋青春的创意灵魂”在纽约更多见,而不是加州。“他在我们的眼中并不神秘”。 译者:老榆木 | Women are still a minority within many ad agencies' executive suites, though they are plentiful in the middle. Several advertising and information companies, including McGraw Hill (MHP), News Corp. (NWS) and Omnicom Group (OMC), had no female executive officers, according to the 2011 Catalyst Census. This year, only six of the 27 board members of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the industry's leading trade association, are women. Even those with the best track records according to Catalyst's research -- Viacom (VIA) and Time Warner Cable (TWX) -- reported around a little over 30% women among top officers, about double the 14.1% female officers at all Fortune 500 companies. By contrast, women hold two-thirds of the 71,000 advertising and promotions manager jobs, nearly half (46%) of advertising sales jobs and 43% of the marketing and sales manager positions in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet women made up a majority of "Mad Men" viewers, accounting for 57% of viewers in season four, according to an AMC spokesperson. Caggiano sees parallels between clients' attitudes then and now, and in the office romances depicted on the show. "Clients … have to be convinced and sometimes seduced into doing what is the right thing, as we see it," she says. She also holds that Draper's ability to grab insights and see human nature out in the world as he's sitting in a bar or on the train heading to work still applies today. "Even with studies piled six feet high … and research everywhere, I get my best ideas from watching people, the same as they did." She also sees truth in the scenes where guy meets girl, and they end up half-dressed on his office couch or saying vows of eternal love. "I met my husband at the office. Many, many other couples who I know met in advertising," she says, claiming that at least 30 couples met and married while at Burnett. Her husband, Jerry Caggiano, worked five floors down from her. "Cubicles have kind of put an end to that -- sex in the office." The most powerful woman on the show may be Draper's ex-wife, Betty, who has kept his secret identity to herself so far. Or perhaps it's Joan, the redhead who runs the secretarial pool and in season four was promoted to a senior administrative role -- without a pay increase. Yet many advertising women today relate more to Peggy, the perky secretary-turned-copywriter. "Industry-wide, I think everybody feels like Peggy these days," says Kelly Schoffel, strategy director of 72andSunny in Los Angeles. "You have to be really tenacious. You have to keep fighting. She's fighting for recognition. She really cares about the work." As for Don Draper, Schoffel says he would never be hired at her agency, which she says strives for collaboration and ego-less team members. Plus his type -- "tortured creative soul clinging to his youth" -- is more common in New York than California, she says. "He's been unraveling before our very eyes." |
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