Don Draper - Window Washer Till The End

His window-washing career continued right until the tragic end of his life.

Don Draper 1925 – 2014: The carousel ride is over - With Mad Men’s last season (sort of) kicking off April 13, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to speculate on the demise of its main character (oh, come on, you know it’s coming).

Loyal father, loyal-ish husband, boozy grandfather, Donald “Don” Draper lived a full life marked with stellar ups and downs. Little is known about the early life of Don Draper, besides the fact that he fought in the Korean War and absolutely did not die and then have his identity stolen by another man.

Draper rose to prominence in advertising as creative director at the firm Sterling Cooper (later to be renamed Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Holloway Ginsberg Romano) and was responsible for some of the greatest ad campaigns ever, such as Kodak’s “It’s a Carousel, Like Life, I Guess” and Clearasil’s “Oh God Your Face.” Many of these campaigns won prestigious Adverty Awards.

Draper continued to have great success until the 1980s, when he began to lose his magic touch, starting with the campaign for Colgate Frozen Dinners. His now infamous slogan, “Give Yourself a Good Reason to Brush Your Teeth,” sunk the product line and managed to actually drive sales of Colgate’s toothpaste down as well, as he insisted the toothpaste be rebranded as being only for use after a Colgate Frozen Dinner.

The campaign that finally ended Draper’s long advertising career was for Coca-Cola. Looking to spike their sales, Coca-Cola enlisted Don to come up with new product ideas. In one of his first meetings with the company, Draper took a drink of the classic cola and immediately spit it out in disgust, unused to consuming non-alcoholic beverages. He told Coca-Cola that they needed to start over and came up with the idea for New Coke, which was originally 65% rum. Due to U.S. Food and Drug Administration demands, that was reduced to 0% and New Coke flopped. Don Draper’s slogan, “Coke is Garbage,” also did not help regain customers when New Coke was fully abandoned.

His window-washing career continued right until the tragic end of his life.

After his dismissal from Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Holloway Ginsberg Romano, Draper left his fourth wife and moved to Cupertino, California, taking a job as a window washer. Like he did in the advertising world, Draper rose through the ranks quickly, winning several Windowy Awards for his speed and trademark creativity in window washing. He eventually made partner and the company he worked for was renamed Buscema & Sons & Draper.

His window-washing career continued right until the tragic end of his life. On March 28, Draper was washing the 14th floor windows of Apple, Inc. headquarters, when he took notice of the meeting happening within. Apple staff were brainstorming the upcoming ad campaign for their new wearable computer, the iWatch. Draper, probably seeing this as his chance to re-enter “the game,” began banging on the window, shouting, “Just Watch Me!” over and over again at the top of his lungs. The people inside the room were stunned and fled, just in time to miss seeing the platform holding Draper and his trusty bucket, “Deeandra,” give way, resulting in his fatal fall.

Donald Draper is survived by his seventh wife Olga and a lot of kids. He was 89.

More Window Cleaners Fall From Height

A window washing platform hangs from the side of the SSM medical building at 1035 Bellevue Avenue in Richmond Heights on Thursday, June 20, 2013. Four window washers were rescued after the counterbalance on the roof pulled away and dropped the washers.

Window washer injured in platform collapse at Richmond Heights medical building; A window washer was injured this morning when the platform he and three other workers were standing on collapsed, authorities said. Four workers, all men, were standing on a platform that collapsed about 10 a.m. at a 5-story SSM medical building at 1035 Bellevue Avenue across from St. Mary's Health Center. Three of the four window washers were pulled safely through a window. A fourth dangling from his harness was close enough to the ground to reach a ladder that someone leaned against the building.

A woman looks out a fifth-floor window of the SSM medical building at 1035 Bellevue Avenue in Richmond Heights on Thursday, June 20, 2013. Part of the roof above her was torn away when the counterbalance for a window washing platform flew off the roof, leaving four window washers hanging from their harnesses.

The washers were about four stories high when the platform collapsed, authorities said. Authorities said the workers' rooftop rigging apparently came loose but it was not immediately clear how. The dangling worker suffered minor hand injuries and was taken away by ambulance. The other three were not hurt. The workers were with Icon Window Cleaning based in Brentwood.

Two of the four window washers involved in an accident in Richmond Heights on Thursday, June 20, 2013, talk to the police about the accident.

One of four window washers left dangling after a platform fell recounts what happened in Richmond Heights.

Two of the four window washers who were involved in an accident in Richmond Heights on Thursday, June 20, 2013, stand across the street from the accident scene at the SSM medical building on Bellevue Avenue.

One of the uninjured workers wouldn't give his name but said the collapse happened quickly and that all four men were attached by their harnesses. He joked the fall was "kind of fun" and that, under the circumstances, he "wouldn't mind doing it again." A representative from the company could not immediately be reached Thursday. Richmond Heights and Clayton firefighters responded to the building this morning.

Window washer platform fails; workers OK -  Four window washers are OK thanks to their harnesses after their platform collapsed while they were working in St. Louis County. The accident happened Thursday morning at a medical building in Richmond Heights. Three of the workers were unhurt. One man had minor hand injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the workers were standing on the platform, about four stories off the ground, when the platform collapsed. Authorities believe rooftop rigging came loose, but the men were attached to harnesses. Three of the men were pulled safely through a window. The fourth dangled close enough to the ground to reach a ladder someone leaned against the building.

Window cleaner injured in fall at Weymouth hospital (Quincy, MA) - A man cleaning windows at South Shore Hospital was injured Wednesday morning when he fell more than 20 feet from scaffolding onto a third-floor roof area. Weymouth Fire Dept. Capt. Steven Murray said the accident occurred shortly after 8 a.m., and that firefighters, police, an ambulance unit and hospital personnel responded. Murray said the worker was cleaning third-floor windows on the hospital's Emerson Building when he fell to a roof area. Murray said the cause of the accident is under investigation. The worker was rushed into the hospital for treatment. Murray said his condition wasn't known as of Wednesday afternoon. The six-floor, $43 million Emerson building is the hospital's newest wing. It opened in December 2012.