10 TV Posters You Won't Believe
6. 9/11 Imagery - Mad Men
The fifth season of AMC's hit period drama Mad Men was promoted with an eye-catchingly minimalist poster featuring a stylised image of a man falling out of the sky alongside nothing else but the date of the season premiere.
Though the imagery is most obviously inspired by the show's opening title sequence, which depicts a man falling through the sky in a sea of skyscrapers, many felt that this isolated shot was making a "tasteless" reference to the 9/11 attacks.
Specifically, some complained that the image was overly reminiscent of the iconic "Falling Man" picture which depicts a man leaping from his office window during the attacks.
It didn't help matters at all that AMC had large billboards featuring the ad placed throughout Manhattan, including on streets close to Ground Zero.
Mad Men's creator Matthew Weiner, who played a major hand in the show's marketing campaign, responded by calling the complaints "ridiculous," while AMC clarified that the image was supposed to evoke protagonist Don Draper's (Jon Hamm) existential turmoil.
Either way, probably not a great idea to put the poster up in Manhattan, no?