The success of the TV series Mad Men has prompted a lot of publishers to look at their catalogs for books that would appeal to regular viewers of the series or that perhaps were an inspiration for the series itself and reprint them to cash in on the show's success. Looking at the covers of the three books above, From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor by Jerry Della Femina (1969), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson (1955) and David Ogilvy's Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963), you can see they're visually keying to the promotional artwork of the series with the red, white and black color as well as the characteristic Mad Man silhouette and smoldering cigarette.
Despite the flagrant exploitation, it happens that these books did actually influence the creators of the series and would be of interest to its viewers. In fact there are certain themes and scenes in these books that obviously were the inspiration for Mad Men story lines. The whole idea of having done things in wartime that would come back to haunt a man's civilian life in later years comes from the The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
The scene in the series where one of the partners, Roger Sterling, refuses to pitch for the Honda account because he doesn't want to forget the atrocities committed by the Japanese some twenties years earlier was obviously inspired from Jerry Della Femina's memoir From Those Wonderful Folks That Gave You Pearl Harbor. The title of the book comes from a line blurted out by a creative director in a scene where an agency is trying to pitch a new advertising campaign to Panasonic.
You can find a lot more examples of Mad Men themed books with similar artwork on Amazon by just typing Mad Men into their search engine. You'll be amazed. Here are some more:
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