That sequence, which features a James Bondish ad man plummeting down the face of an ad-reflecting glass skyscraper, failed to catch former-model Gita Hall May’s eye until 2012, when Mad Men became available on home video. It was only when she was watching Mad Men in the comfort of her own home did she realize that the giant woman’s face the ad man silhouette falls past is her her young self, staring credulous into the camera lens of corporate America. Since the series’ debut in 2007, it has hauled in an estimate $1 billion, and May would really like to be compensated, thank you very much, for “the value her image contributed to their property or the revenues that her image contributed to their profit.” She contends that she only gave permission for her image to be used in a Revlon ad in the early 60s, and never agreed
to allow, forty years later, her image to be cropped from the photo, in secret, and inserted as a key element in the title sequence of a cable television series, without her consent and for commercial purposes.
This sounds like a negotiating job for Roger Sterling, who definitely won’t find a way to get drunk and behave inappropriately at a deposition.
Ex-Model, 79, Sues Over Appearance in ‘Mad Men’ Title Sequence [THR]