Prompting us to somewhat rethink our convictions that Mad Men’s seventh season will find Don Draper singlehandedly thwarting a skyjacking, Matthew Weiner has unveiled the below teaser poster from renowned graphic designer Milton Glaser. The man famous for creating the “I ♥ NY” logo was also well known for creating the colorful, psychedelic phantasmagorias that began to dominate the ads of the late ’60s—the very era Don Draper finds himself in. And so Weiner, a longtime fan of Glaser’s work, contracted Glaser to create the below poster, which suggests the entire final run of the series will be one long Roger Sterling acid trip.
Or maybe not: “There is a dreamlike quality to it, and believe it or not, it is related to the show, and not because it’s psychedelic,” Buzzkill Weiner, always that guy, says to the New York Times. “That’s not what it’s about. What it’s about is the material and the immaterial world, and that’s what I loved.” Weiner also adds that—while the swirls of wine and women suggest that Don Draper will spend the season standing on the edge of rooftops, proclaiming himself Dionysus reincarnate, and demanding everyone get naked and feast on colors—they’re mostly just an extension of the themes the show has always explored.
“It maintains the idea that this is somehow going on in Don Draper’s mind, which is what the story is always about—and what the back of his head is about, on some level,” Weiner says, nevertheless prompting us to go stare at ourselves in the mirror until the April 13 premiere. (But don’t do it, man. Don’t look in the mirror.)
Anyway, in light of these new revelations, we now feel secure in saying yesterday’s teaser of Don walking in hallucinatory slow-motion is actually taking place in real time. No wonder they needed to split up the final season.