Last week's episode was a big tear-jerker. (Spoiler alert!) Betty, who just embarked on a new career journey studying psychology, discovered she had terminal lung cancer and has about a year to live -- and only if she undergoes medical treatment. Pete Campbell looks as if he's finally made it, for real, when he gets offered a big Learjet job that he didn't really want but that ultimately yielded the possibility of a do-over with Trudy and his daughter -- in Wichita. Don, on the other hand, is still wandering, and ends up at a motel in the middle of nowhere where we can see what he could have been, had he not stepped into advertising. But what was happening in the real world at the time? Read on in this week's edition of Real Headlines.

Cancer Society Asks Media Aid in Print Anti-Cigaret Campaign
For Betty, perhaps this was too little too late. Cigarette ads were banned from TV in January 1971, so months beforehand, the American Cancer Society, preparing for the cigarette industry's mad rush to print, announced plans for a "major educational effort" to counter a potential uptick in the industry's advertising. The TV ban would see more than $200,000,000 worth of cigarette money leaving broadcast -- so that's a whole lot of dough left for other channels.

How Do You Tell the World That You Have Opening for a Middle-Aged Gent?
Given McCann's treatment of Joan on the show, you can imagine the agency villain putting out an ad like the one discussed in this article, following Don's departure. Agency Solow/Wexton created a talent search ad for asset management firm L.M. Rosenthal & Co. which read, "An interesting opportunity for a gentleman of middle age." It was to run in the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal but was banned by both for different reasons. The Times called the use of "gentleman" discriminatory, while the WSJ was OK with the mention of gender. It was the (ageist) use of "middle-age" that was the problem.

Green Dolmatch Wins Hotly Pursued $250,000 Hathaway Shirt Account
The end of Mad Men feels like the end of an era for TV viewers. The ad industry saw something similar when Hathaway Shirts, which became part of advertising history at the hands of David Ogilvy, found a new agency, Green Dolmatch, in October 1970. In June, Ogilvy had ended its nearly 20-year relationship with the client, declining to comment. But according to the article, Hathaway execs expressed that the partnership had gone stale.

Chicago Marketing Group Names Button Man of the Year
In last Sunday's episode, Don Draper walks around in cheap Sears clothing ( looking no less dapper ). Although today Sears is struggling to find its way, back in the day, it wasn't so bad as a brand. Its senior VP-Merchandising James W. Button even earned a nod as Man of the Year by the Chicago Marketing Group, for landing such marketing "milestones" as "early introduction of lead-free paints, compactors and phosphate-free detergents." He demonstrated leadership that "produced marketing advancements with social benefits," according to J. Walter Thompson VP John G. Keane, chairman of the awards committee.

New Lockheed Campaign
With his move to Learjet, you can imagine Pete spearheading new ads like this one, for Pacific Southwest Airlines' Lockheed jetliners.

Two Websters Dictionaries Get Christmas Gift Push
Something we will never see today. An ad for a dictionary. . . on a table. . .with wheels. Copy for the Merriam Webster's Third New International Dictionary ad reads: "This Christmas give the Cadillac of dictionaries."