After almost eight years of watching AMC’s Mad Men, it can be easy to forget that the show is ostensibly about the world of advertising.

You see, it’s just so damn easy to get distracted by the intriguing human elements of the show. Like Don Draper’s tortured soul and his dark, penetrating eyes. Or the spectacular transformation of Peggy Olson from mousy secretary to a creative force of nature. Or Pete Campbell’s creepy receding hairline. And have we mentioned those dark, penetrating eyes of Don Draper?

And while it’s the complex and nuanced characters that have kept viewers watching the series for seven seasons (part two of this final season begins Sunday, April 5), that doesn’t make the backdrop of the 1960s corporate ad world that they parade in front of any less vibrant. If anything, the show has instilled within that profession a poet’s soul by showing audiences that there’s a purity in the creative process whether it’s being used write the great American novel or the great American tagline to get housewives to buy a certain brand of cat food.

Some of Mad Men’s best moments have come when the show pulls back the curtain and lets viewers play the role of business exec waiting to be floored by the perfect commercial pitch for his or her product. It was Don’s soliloquy about nostalgia when presenting the ad campaign for Kodak’s slide carousel in the first episode that set the tone for the series. And it was Peggy’s tear-jerking presentation to Burger Chef post-moon landing that seismically shifted the dynamic between teacher and pupil.

Mad Men: The Carousel from ray3c on Vimeo.

Yes, it’s the human drama embedded in those moments that gives them their emotional weight. But it’s also the verisimilitude of the ad slogans and concepts that they’re pitching that helps us be swept away by that emotion. Imagine if Don’s slide carousel build up ended in the equivalent of a “Where’s the beef?” catchphrase. Or if the payoff to Peggy’s bittersweet Burger Chef pitch was a Meow Mix-style jingle. Hard as it might be to believe, but even a singing cat couldn’t bring the feels the same way an authentic sounding tagline can.

To prove how good the Mad Men writers have been over the years at creating their own fictional ad copy, we’ve selected a few examples advertisements that were conceived for the show, as well as some of the real 1960s ads of products that Don, Peggy and company pitched on the series. Your job is to decide which were created by real ad men and which were created for Mad Men.

1. London Fog

2. American Airlines

3. Popsicle

4. Lucky Strike

5. Playtex Gloves

6. Jantzen

7. Bethlehem Steel

8. Glo-Coat

9. Belle Jolie

10. Kodak

ANSWERS

1. Real
2. Real
3. Mad Men
4. Trick question, it’s both. The ad itself—featuring golfer Sam Snead—is real. But Don Draper was shown coming up with the idea of branding Lucky Strike as being toasted as a way to differentiate the cigarette from its competitors.
5. Mad Men
6. Real
7. Mad Men
8. Real. Although Don’s commercial spot for Glo-Coat won him a Clio.
9. Mad Men 
10. This one was a gimme. Mad Men