‘MAD’ men: 60 years of spoofing the advertising industry

In the 60-year history of the iconic humor monthly, MAD Magazine has parodied many different targets: politicians, movies, and, of course, Donald Trump, who MAD’s editor-in-chief John Ficarra calls “the gift that keeps on giving.” But Ficarra has a favorite advertising topic to parody.

“The cigarette industry,” he answers, without hesitating. “MAD was very early on into realizing that smoking was bad for you, and a stupid thing to do and you shouldn’t be doing it, and we hammered the cigarette industry for years over their deceptive ads.”

MAD has a new anthology out chronicling the fun it’s had over the years at the expense of the advertisers of the world. It’s called, “Totally MAD: 60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity and Stupidity.”

While MAD Magazine’s sales have fallen from a high of over two million copies in 1974, Ficarra says the magazine has influenced everything from “The Daily Show” to cigarette advertisements.

How ironic. Cue Alfred E. Newman’s smile.