The rampant sexism in "Mad Men" was very typical of the 1960s, when the outlook for women in America was just beginning to change. The "second wave" of feminism began in the '60s but mainstream America was still very much a "man's world." That attitude carried over into advertising, which did very little to advance gender roles and ran ads that implied women were idiots who cared mostly about pleasing their men.
Here are some of advertising's most egregious sexist ads from that era.