The Internet discovered some time ago that Mad Men star Jon Hamm has been blessed with some…attributes that endow him with a certain easily exploitable notoriety. The actor’s publicist, however, was not amused by the fact that the New York Daily News recently devoted a few valuable inches of its gossip column to discussing Hamm’s tendency to crowd a room with his gifts (which are apparently creating a problem on the show’s set).

An “inside source” says the extra-tight pants of Mad Men‘s upcoming sixth season, set in the late 60′s, have required AMC‘s design team to work a little Photoshop magic on promo images of Don Draper–but Hamm’s rep naturally doesn’t want to discuss this massive scandal.

The long and short of it: enough with the Dick (Whitman) jokes!

We have to say, though: We understand why Hamm’s flack is sick of reading this sort of easy click bait, but we also don’t really see how the star is getting shafted by the press. It’s all in good fun, right?

Apparently not: the very irritated rep told the Daily News that “It is ridiculous and not really funny at all. I’d appreciate you taking the high road and not resorting to something childish like this that’s been blogged about 1,000 times.”

Correction: make that 1,001.

Porter Novelli announced that Jesse Soleil has joined the New York office as senior vice president, digital. In his role he will be responsible for designing cross-platform digital experiences for clients across all practices. For the past four years, Soleil was CEO of Massiverse LLC, a boutique media entertainment company, which he founded to create cross-platform entertainment for kids. With Massiverse, Soleil created new original and intellectual properties, including Dragons Vs Robots, as well as new technology, marketing and business models integrating social media, games, toys, traditional media (TV), Webisodes, publishing, mobile apps and a Near Field Communication platform. Before that, he spent nearly eight years with Scholastic, Inc., most recently as vice president, emerging media and technology. (release)

Lauren Miller joined Bully Pulpit Interactive as a senior director. Many may recognize Lauren from her work on the Elizabeth Warren for Senate campaign, where she was the new media director. Over the past five political cycles, Lauren has defined how campaigns can use the internet to raise money and win elections. Lauren will advise Bully Pulpit’s political clients, and she will help BPI establish itself not just as the largest digital marketer of the Democratic party and brand, but as a premier full service digital firm. Her hire complements BPI’s other additions over the past month, which include: Will Johnson, the new senior director for strategic services who joined the team from Change.org and Madeleine Perry, the former digital director for Sen. Sherrod Brown, a new deputy director. (Release)

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We can certainly see why so many clients are rushing to sign with “viral marketing firm” Thinkmodo, which combines the video, social media and promotion trifecta into campaigns like the “Zombies in New York” stunt for AMC‘s mega-hit The Walking Dead. That video clearly didn’t have a script. As for the agency’s newest project, a promo for the upcoming  revenge thriller Dead Man Down, we’re not so sure…

The spot asks viewers “What would you do if you walked in on a murder in progress?” and the movie’s hashtag is #ISawWhatYouDid, so we get the connection–but based on the range of reactions, we hope that a few people in this clip were either in on the secret or didn’t quite realize what was going on.

So was this a real experiment or did everyone have a “script”? Most importantly, does it make you more interested in seeing the movie?

Once upon a time, at the same time every week, one of my roommates and I had to ditch our apartment (occupied by a few fellow young women) for a guy friend’s abode so that we could watch South Park as it aired — our own TV was occupied by banter delivered at tongue-twisting-speed by The Gilmore Girls, which aired at the same time as our beloved Kyle and Cartman. So when this female fan of shows like Rescue Me, Archer, and The Following read AdAge’s article discussing the popularity of male-targeted shows among women, the first thing I thought was, “I knew it wasn’t just us!”

In fact, the highest-rated cable show among women so far this year is not FOX‘s female-targeted New Girl or Lifetime‘s Dance Moms, but AMC‘s gore-filled zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead. According to Nielsen, the February 10 mid-season premiere of The Walking Dead drew a 5.0 rating/11 share among women 18-49 (almost twice that of its nearest competitor). To give that number some context, shows like ABC’s Once Upon a Time and CBS’ The Good Wife are lucky when the same demographic comes in above a 1.5.

So does that mean that women are seeing past gore and violence to intricate story lines and interesting characters? It’s not that simple. Horizon Media research director Brad Adgate says gore isn’t necessarily a turnoff for women. “If there’s one genre that’s really popular with men and women, science fiction is it—anything that deals with the occult really.” To support his point, Adgate mentions long-running procedurals like CSI and Law & Order: SVU, which boast an overwhelmingly female audience.

It seems we ladies aren’t wading through the scary stuff–we are wholly engrossed in it. Girls may be sugar and spice and everything nice, but we also like to watch shows about serial killers.

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Yesterday we told you about the Banana Republic/AMC cross-promotion likely to have Mad Men fans dressing like the Drapers come spring.

But it now appears that the retailer’s relationship with AMC is not exclusive–as anyone at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce will tell you, it often pays to have a little something going “on the side.”

Just in time for Valentines Day, Banana Republic’s global spring campaign centers on a single concept — love. Aww.

In order to get customers in the mood, the retailer will kick off its amorous rollout by hosting in-store mixers co-sponsored by Match.com. These after-hours soirees, hosted in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, will be open to members of Match.com’s Stir events program, who can mingle with fellow cardigan-wearing singles while sipping cocktails and enjoying discounts on merchandise.

Oh, and fear not for the lonely hearts who will leave these gatherings alone; every attendee will receive a free Billy Joel CD to keep them warm on the long, cold winter nights. (Ed. note: We now assume that these events are open only to the 50-and-over set.)

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Spring is almost here (we swear!), and this year the season of love and renewal marks the return of both Mad Men (for its sixth season) and Banana Republic‘s Mad Men-inspired clothing line (for its third).

AMC first partnered with parent company GAP for this cross-promotion in 2011 for a collection of contemporary clothing inspired by the Camelot era of the 1960′s. Fans of the AMC hit show could finally get their hands on tangible items to help them emulate Joan, Betty, Don, and Roger. The man in charge of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce could not have planned it better.

Consumer demand for the line has been strong, helping to boost Banana Republic’s North American same-store sales (which rose 5 percent in the three months ending April 28, 2012 with the new collection’s help, marking the brand’s biggest bounce in two years).

This year, fans will notice the show’s move toward the mod vibe of the late 60′s reflected in the clothing collection, designed collaboratively by Banana Republic and Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant. No more pastels and country-club couture — the times, they are a’changin!

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The sex-symbol status of Mad Men star Christina Hendricks flies in the face of the idea that only waif-thin or super-sporty female body types qualify as objects of lust. Her confidence and “I know I’m hot” attitude have made her a poster child for size-immune self-esteem, and some see her as a modern day Marilyn Monroe.

But even Hendricks has moments of discomfort and self-doubt. During a recent interview, Australian Sun-Herald fashion editor Kate Waterhouse asked the star about her famous curves, saying, “You have been an inspiration as a full-figured woman. What is the most inspiring story that you can remember where you’ve inspired someone?”

It seems clear to us that the journalist meant no harm and probably meant to pay the actress a compliment. But Hendricks didn’t take it that way, and we’re willing to bet that what Waterhouse actually said and what what Hendricks heard were not one and the same. To Hendricks, the question probably sounded more like: “You’re too heavy to be conventionally beautiful, but somehow you’re confident and popular in spite of that. Let’s discuss.”

While some might see this incident as a PR failure, it’s more a reflection of the fact that “full-figured” is simply too close to the word “fat”, which remains one of our most painful insults. The connection inspires moments of insecurity even for a successful and self-assured woman like Christina Hendricks. She doesn’t have a PR problem — curves do.

The ongoing dispute between AMC and Dish Network that resulted in Dish’s 14 million customers losing access to the home of “Mad Men“, “The Walking Dead” and “Breaking Bad” early this summer isn’t showing any signs of resolution. In fact, in the above PSA-style ad, AMC takes its side of the argument to next level, appealing to viewers not affected by the dispute in an apparent effort to gin up some positive PR.

It’s basically the snarky, for-profit equivalent of those familiar ads for holiday season charity efforts: “You know how much you love your Thanksgiving feast AMC shows? Well, many others, perhaps even some in your very own neighborhood, aren’t as fortunate. Please consider inviting them into your home to share your dinner ‘Breaking Bad.’”

The ad then points out that Dish customers are still paying the same price for their TV packages as they were before AMC was dropped.

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Dish Network has gone all out in an effort to promote its new offerings to American cable cutters—and to distract the public from the ongoing PR problems stemming from its controversial “Auto-hop” commercial skipping technology and its and its decision to drop AMC.

Today in New York, Dish held a “news conference” that involved former New York governor/TV host Eliot Spitzer, pundit Glenn Beck and legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer–and turned out to be a bizarre fake “fight” between the two TV personalities. Why did this happen? Because Spitzer hosts a show on Current TV, a channel carried by Dish–and the provider recently announced that it has given Beck a chance to turn his website, The Blaze, into an entire channel filled with original content (we assume there will be chalkboards).

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We’ve heard about the power of digital fanfiction to elevate popular literary brands like Harry Potter, Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey. But what about fan art based 0n movies and shows?

AMC’s cult hit “Breaking Bad” has inspired its own ongoing art project called Breaking Gifs—and this week, the Los Angeles-based Gallery 1988 will feature a series of posters and other works by painters, print-makers and graphic designers who chose to pay visual homage to their favorite show. Check out some images here, here and here.

While the exhibit’s organizers did not appear to work with AMC in any official capacity, their event obviously provides a nice organic PR boost for the show, the gallery and all the artists involved. Members of the cast and crew–including show runner Vince Gilligan–even stopped by the exhibit on opening night to say hello—and why not? Everybody loves a little free PR.

P.S. Did we mention that we really love this show?