Dr. Lyle Evans Brings Mad Men Into the Modern Age
The clothing, sets and references of Mad Men have been noted many times for their strict adherence to historical accuracy, but the most recent episode had something of a red herring that shows how much of an impact the show has with modern audiences.
Roger Sterling, a partner in the fictional agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce makes reference to a “Dr. Lyle Evans” when launching into a tirade against the Japanese executives of Honda, who his partners are trying to win as a client.
“Who the hell is Dr. Lyle Evans?” quips Pete Campbell.
Really Roger, who the hell is Dr. Lyle Evans?!
In this context, Dr. Lyle Evans is simply a subtle advertising play designed to get people talking about the episode, and one that’s worked out well.
Shortly after the episode, Dr. Lyle Evans became one of the fastest rising searches on Google as viewers tried to do a bit of digging to answer the question.
We’ll give credit to whoever is handling marketing over at AMC: the avatars for season 2 got plenty of people talking about the show online as they spread through various social media sites, and the faux historical references designed to get people searching and talking about the episode is a stealth, but very effective way to advertise the show without advertising.
