Breaking the Glass Ceiling: How the Mad Women Changed the Face of the Ad Industry

Linh Tran

Bridgeport, CT

BA (Digital Media Business Strategies)

Advisor: Matthew Worwood

Poster
Link to Breaking the Glass Ceiling: How the Mad Women Changed the Face of the Ad Industry
Link to References

"You're never going to get that corner office until you start treating Don as an equal...You can't be a man...Be a woman. It's a powerful business when done correctly."— Bobbie Barrett to Peggy Olson in Mad Men

Women in the advertising industry have always been overshadowed. Working in a male-dominated industry, they were told to just stick to creating ads for female-related products, such as household items. Prior to that, the greatest job success that a woman could hope to achieve was being promoted from receptionist to secretary. Fast-forward to now, more and more women are making remarkable strides as female executives in the field; creating powerful ads that leave impactful marks that would have never been achievable before the 1960s. Many have started or joined organizations and programs that help recognize the accomplishments of minorities in the business.

"Breaking the Glass Ceiling: How the Mad Women Changed the Face of the Ad Industry" explores the progression of how advertising women have impacted the evolution of the ad industry. The project provides insights about the future of diversity and equality in the advertising industry by analyzing the accuracy of the fictional female executives from the show Mad Men, researching on former and current ad industry women, and predicting the future for ad women.

Artist Bio

Linh Tran is a senior Digital Media & Design major with a concentration in Digital Media Business Strategies, and a minor in Psychological Sciences. She is passionate about copywriting and conceptualizing, and hopes to eventually create commercial ads (hopefully one for the Super Bowl). Her career aspiration is to become a creative director or a head strategist at one of the Big Four agencies. She strives to always be a collaborative leader with any team she works with.

Linh would like to thank all her professors who always kept inspiring this inner-city girl to chase her big-city dreams. She will be working full-time as a Social Media Marketing Associate at Bigbuzz in NYC after graduation.

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