The Madison Avenue adventures of Don Draper, Peggy Olson and the other denizens of Sterling Cooper & Partners faded to black this month as “Mad Men” ended its heralded seven-season run on AMC.
So the “Med Men” at JAMA decided to make a nod to pop culture.
The gist of the Med Men microsite, which JAMA tweeted about May 17 just before the series finale, won't come as too much of a surprise to fervent fans of the series about hard-living 1960s ad agency executives.
The show chronicled the decade's social and political history, as well as the changing attitudes toward alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex and, again, alcohol. Did we mention alcohol?
The Med Men microsite features the iconic image of the series' lead character, creative director Don Draper. Only, instead of a cigarette in his hand, he holds an issue of JAMA and wears a stethoscope.
The site offers links to seven JAMA studies from the era that match the bad habits and unhealthy behavior the characters so entertainingly indulged in.
For hard-drinking Roger Sterling, who survived a heart attack, there's “Alcohol in the treatment of angina pectoris” from 1950 or “Effects of tobacco and whiskey on the cardiovascular system” from 1955.
For series antihero Draper, who engages in too many extramarital affairs to count, there's “Prevention of VD in the sexually promiscuous” from 1966.
For the entire cast, whose chain-smoking seemed to leave most of the sets in a perpetual haze, there's “Stress, tobacco, and coronary disease” from 1965. For work-obsessed ad execs Draper, Sterling, Olson and Pete Campbell, there's “Coronary-prone individuals (Type A behavior pattern)” from 1970.
And for the characters who were barflies (which would be most of them), there's “Cardiac effects of a cocktail” from 1971.
The site was the brainchild of Michael Berkwits, electronic editor of JAMA and the JAMA Network, who said he wanted to show that JAMA's past articles are still interesting and relevant.
You can visit the Med Men site at medmen.jamanetwork.com.
