Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
High Speed Rail

“Mad Men” Stars Have a New Product to Pitch: High-Speed Rail

7:44 AM PST on March 10, 2011

Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete Campbell on the hit series "Mad Men", and Rich Sommer, who plays Harry Crane, have teamed up with U.S. PIRG to make a video about high-speed rail. In it, Campbell suggests an ad campaign for trains, which Crane finds ridiculous -- trains make so much sense; why would you need to sell them? It ends with a call to action.

U.S. PIRG developed the video with FunnyOrDie.com, where people can basically post anything they think is funny and viewers vote on whether or not it's funny enough. The high-speed rail video is "a way to reach new audiences and build excitement for high-speed rail projects around the country," according to Phineas Baxandall at U.S. PIRG.

Meanwhile, the Regional Plan Association yesterday released a less funny but still worthwhile video called "Why Build High-Speed Rail in the Northeast," making the argument that projected population growth makes rail investment an imperative.

Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete Campbell on the hit series "Mad Men", and Rich Sommer, who plays Harry Crane, have teamed up with U.S. PIRG to make a video about high-speed rail. In it, Campbell suggests an ad campaign for trains, which Crane finds ridiculous -- trains make so much sense; why would you need to sell them?

Why Build High-Speed Rail in the Northeast? from Regional Plan Association on Vimeo.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Guest Opinion: Ten Years In, CA Active Transportation Program Lays Bare a Tale of Two Agencies

L.A. County needs to embrace physically-protected bikeways, robust traffic calming around schools, and similarly transformative, safety-focused projects

September 29, 2023

Eyes on the Station: Metro Fortified Turnstiles at MacArthur Park Station

Metro fortified turnstile entrances at MacArthur Park in order to curb fare-evading riders; sometimes this has adverse impacts on fare-paying riders

September 27, 2023
See all posts