Mad Men creator Matt Weiner explains what the last scene of the finale means to him

This is the real-life story behind that Coke ad in the Mad Men finale

(Image credit: YouTube.com/Coca-Cola Conversations)

last updated 21 May 2015

In his first interview since the Mad Men finale, Matt Weiner sat down with writer A.M. Homes at the New York Public Library to discuss the show's ending — and revealed that he intended the enigmatic finale scene, which implied that Don Draper invented the famous "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad, to be an optimistic grace note.

"I'm not saying that advertising's not corny. But I'm saying that people who find that ad corny are kind of… they're probably experiencing a lot of life that way, and they're missing out on something," said Weiner.

Five years before that, black people and white people couldn't even be in an ad together. And the idea that some enlightened state, and not just co-option, might have created something very pure.... And yeah, there's soda in there, with a good feeling. But that ad… to me, it’s the best ad ever made, and it comes from a very good place. Which is a desire to sell Coca-Cola, probably. But you know, you shouldn't write everything off. [Weiner]

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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.

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