This study examines the depiction of the creative process in AMC's The Pitch. Using textual analysis, three themes emerged: 1) competition is necessary to succeed in advertising; 2) creative ideas come with experience; and 3) the advertising creative process is a hierarchical autocracy These themes are explained, and, through the lens of cultivation theory, researchers discuss how this depiction of the creative process could positively and negatively impact students of advertising when used as a resource in undergraduate advertising curricula.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AmabileT. M. (1983). The social psychology of creativity.New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
2.
AmabileT. M. (1996). Creativity in context: Update to the social psychology of creativity.Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
3.
AmabileT. M., & KhaireM. (2008). Creativity and the role of the leader. Harvard Business Review, 86(10), 100-9.
AshleyC., & OliverJ. D. (2010). Creative leaders. Journal of Advertising, 39(1), 115-30.
6.
BanduraA. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 1-26.
7.
BanduraA. (2008). Social cognitive theory of mass communication. In BryantJ. & OliverM. B. (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (3rd ed.) (pp. 94-124). New York: Routledge.
8.
BarkmanA. J. (2010). Mad women: Aristotle, second-wave feminism, and the women of Mad Men. In CarvethR. & SouthJ. B. (Eds.), Mad Men and philosophy: Nothing is as it seems (pp. 203-17). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
9.
BergerA. A. (1998). Media research techniques (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
10.
BrunnerR. (2012). AMC's The PitchEntertainment Weekly, 65.
11.
BudnerD. M. (1994). Increasing the odds for marketplace success: Advertising development at FCB/LKP. Journal of Advertising Research, 34(3), 112.
12.
BurnettL. (1968). Keep listening to that wee, small voice. In BarbanA. M. & SandageC. H. (Eds.), Readings in advertising and promotion strategy. Homewood, IL: R. D. Irwin.
de GrootJ. (2011). ‘Perpetually dividing and suturing the past and present’: Mad Men and the illusions of history. Rethinking History, 15(2), 269-85.
20.
DuffyB. E., Liss-MariñoT., & SenderK. (2011). Reflexivity in television depictions of media industries: Peeking behind the gilt curtain. Communication, Culture & Critique, 4(3), 296-313.
El-Murad, J., & WestD. C. (2004). The defition and measurement of creativity: What do we know?Journal of Advertising Research, 44(2), 188-201.
23.
FerrucciP., ShoenbergerH., & SchausterE. (2014). It's a mad, mad, mad, ad world: A feminist critique of Mad Men. Women's Studies International Forum, 47(A), 93-101.
24.
FletcherW. (1990). The management of creativity. International Journal of Advertising, 9(1), 1-11.
25.
GerbnerG. (1998). Cultivation analysis: An overview. Mass Communication and Society, 1(3/4), 175-94.
26.
GerbnerG., & GrossL. (1976). Living with television: The violence profile. Journal of Communication, 26(2), 172-94.
27.
GerbnerG., GrossL., MorganM., & SignorielliN. (1994). Growing up with television: The cultivation perspective. In BryantJ. and ZillmannD. (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 17-41). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
28.
GuilfoyK. (2010). Capitalism and freedom in the affluent society. In CarvethR. & SouthJ. B. (Eds.), Mad Men and philosophy: Nothing is as it seems (pp. 34-52). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
29.
HackleyC., & KoverA. J. (2007). The trouble with creatives: Negotiating creative identity in advertising agencies. International Journal of Advertising, 26(1), 63-78.
30.
HirschmanE. C. (1989). Role-based models of advertising creation and production. Journal of Advertising, 18(4), 42-53.
31.
JohnsonP. (2012, May 21). ‘The Pitch’ portrays a caricature almost as outdated as ‘Mad Men.’Advertising Age, 83(21), 12.
32.
JohnsonR. B. (1997). Examining the validity structure of qualitative research. Education, 118(2), 282-92.
KoverA. J., GoldbergS. M., & JamesW. L. (1995). Creativity vs. effectiveness? An integrating classification for advertising. Journal of Advertising Research, 35(6), 29-40.
35.
KoverA. J. (1995). Copywriters' implicit theories of communication: An exploration. Journal of Consumer Research, 21(4), 596-611.
36.
LarsenP. (1991). Textual analysis of fictional media content. In JensenK. B. & JankowskiN. W. (Eds.), A handbook of qualitative methodologies for mass communication research (pp. 121-34). London; New York: Routledge.
37.
LowryD. T., & XieL. T. (2008). Employers' perspectives on skills needed for entry-level advertising and marketing jobs: A new computerized approach. Journal of Advertising Education, 12(2), 17-24.
38.
MalliaK. L., WindelsK., & BroylesS. J. (2013). An examination of successful leadership traits for the advertising-agency creative director. Journal of Advertising Research, 53(3), 339-53.
39.
MockrosC., & CsikszentmihalyiM. (1999). The social construction of creative lives. In MontuoriA. & PurserR. E. (Eds.), Social creativity (Vol. 1, pp. 175-218). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
40.
OtnesC., OviattA. A., & TreiseD. M. (1995). Views on advertising curricula from experienced ‘creatives’. Journalism Educator, 49(4), 21-30.
41.
ParekhR. (2011, July 25). Why some ad agencies aren't buying pitch for ‘The Pitch.’Advertising Age, 82(28), 1, 21.
42.
ParkerB. J. (2000). Putting it all together: Effective participation in advertising competitions. Journal of Advertising Education, 4(1), 19-29.
43.
PattersonT. (2012, April 30). Watching the Hucksters huck: AMC's The Pitch wants to be a real-life Mad Men. Slate. Accessed on September 12, 2015, at Lexis Nexis database.
44.
PinkerS. (2012). The better angels of our nature: A history of violence and humanity. London: Penguin.
ShanahanJ., & MorganM. (1999). Television and its viewers: Cultivation theory and research. New York: Cambridge University Press.
57.
SpillerL. D., MaroldD. W., MarkovitzH., & SandlerD. (2011). 50 ways to enhance student career success in and out of advertising and marketing classrooms. Journal of Advertising Education, 15(1), 65-72.
58.
StuhlfautM. W. (2011). The creative code: An organisational influence on the creative process in advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 30(2), 283-304.
59.
StuhlfautM. W., & WindelsK. (2012). Measuring the organisational impact on creativity: The creative code intensity scale. International Journal of Advertising, 31(4), 795-818.
60.
VerbekeW., FransesP. H., Le BlancA., & van RuitenN. (2008). Finding the keys to creativity in ad agencies. Journal of Advertising, 37(4), 121-30.
61.
WestD. C. (1993). Cross-national creative personalities, processes, and agency philosophies. Journal of Advertising Research, 33(5), 53-62.
62.
WestD. C. (2012). Creativity and risk theories of advertising. In RodgersS. & ThorsonE. (Eds.), Advertising theory (pp. 212-26). New York, NY: Routledge.
63.
WimmerR. D., & DominickJ. R. (2013). Mass media research: An introduction.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.