OK, Dabitch assures me that news about Mad Men qualifies as ad news:

Cocktails have been a vital element of the show right from the opening scene, which showed Don Draper sitting in a bar. Before the audience learns his name or his profession, he expresses his drink preference: “Do this again — old-fashioned, please.”

NYT recently ran an article on the drinks of Mad Men — the cocktail culture, the necessity of accuracy. As previously noted, I'm still in season two, so we were just treated to Six Month Leave, where Roger and Don send Freddy off to dry out … with a night of drinking out on the town. By the end, Don's moved on to Canadian Club. Stuck in my head because I remembered these ads from the awards annuals.

From Macleans:
The campaign wasn't trying to overtly mimic Mad Men, says Ginny Homewood, group marketing manager at Maxxium Canada, which markets and distributes Canadian Club. But there's no doubt it follows a trend sparked by that show.

In digging up the images (thanks, Scary Ideas), discovered there's no small amount of controversy around them for all sorts of reasons — but I like 'em. They have an attitude, a viewpoint, a strategy. Maybe overdone design-wise, but … of course, I've still haven't tried the stuff.

But, hey, anyway — remember back a few years ago when this new "Mad Men" show was starting up? And the big controversy around it that Jack Daniels was a sponsor, receiving some product placement in return?