But the ensuing decade was a period of great change for the industry. The style of ads and the culture at large shifted dramatically between 1960 and 1971. That shift wasn't instant and it wasn't universal, but the ads below show the broad arc of the Mad Men era. It was a time when the only consistent creative directive was reinvention.

1960



Advertising began the 1960s as an industry on the rise. As recalled in The Mirror Makers: A History of American Advertising and Its Creators, US ad agency billings had increased from $53 million in 1945 to $212 million in 1960. The ads were successful, but conservative: they relied on illustration, a lot of copy, and direct sales pitches.