Plot
The episode opens with Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the creative director for the advertising agency Sterling Cooper, having an Old Fashioned at a bar. As a waiter begins to serve him, Don initiates a conversation with him about cigarettes to get a better perception of the public opinion of Lucky Strike. The waiter states that he prefers Old Gold cigarettes to Lucky Strike.
Later, Don discusses with his mistress, artist Midge Daniels (Rosemarie DeWitt), his upcoming meeting with Lucky Strike's executives. The following day, Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt) introduces a rough draft for a new Lucky Strike advertisement. Greta Guttman (Gordana Rashovich), a medical researcher for Sterling Cooper, sends a report to Don that reveals that the public's tendency to smoke cigarettes is merely a death wish. Unimpressed with the report, he throws it in the trash.
Don's next meeting involves department store owner Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff). Although Menken wants her store to be as upscale and renowned as fashion house Chanel, Don suggests that she offer coupons to entice frugal housewives. Menken lashes out at their ideas, and an equally angered Don storms out of the room. Meanwhile, the Lucky Strike executives enter the premises. Don is joined by Roger Sterling (John Slattery), the CEO of Sterling Cooper, in welcoming them into their corporate offices. At the meeting, Don offers no actionable proposal for an ad campaign, so Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) intervenes by offering an approach that echoes Guttman's earlier sentiments. Shocked by that line of thinking, Lucky Strike's executives begin to exit. In a last-ditch effort, Don states that all the tobacco companies offer identical products, but Lucky Strike's campaign will turn on the fact that, "Advertising is based on one thing: happiness." Don encourages the Garners to describe how their tobacco is made, which inspires his development of the slogan: "Everyone else's tobacco is poisonous, but Lucky Strike's is toasted." Within moments of his speech, the officials are impressed with his ideas. After the meeting, Sterling urges Don to reconsider his bid to perform public relations for Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon.
Read more about this topic: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Mad Men)
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