“That story was good enough for The New Yorker. And don’t act like those magazines do everything on merit.”

As is often the case with really good TV shows, that line only improves with context.
I’m watching Season 1 of Mad Men, enjoying it very much. I take little notes as I watch (“Volkswagen Lemon ad, year?”), minor matters I can look up on Wikipedia and, more to the point, The Complete New Yorker.
Doesn’t it seem likely that Matthew Weiner, the creator of the show, owns a copy of The Complete New Yorker? I bet he’s worn Disc 5 (1957-1964) down to the nub. I expect to do the same.
It’s difficult to think of a show that better lends itself to CNY supplement. Based on a few preliminary searches, the CNY yield on terms like “advertising” for that era is too rich to be covered in a single post, so I’ll add occasional posts over the next few weeks. The ad man really does appear to have been an object of especial interest at that time, and the CNY reflects that. I hope you’ll … tune in.
Here’s a starter, a Dana Fradon cartoon from the October 1, 1960, issue, a commentary on the literary ambitions of the gang at Sterling Cooper (an alternate title for the episode quoted above might have been “All the Sad Young Literary Men”). Enjoy.