Bill Backer, R. I. P.

Bill Backer, Man Behind World's 'Most Famous Ad,' Dead at 89:  If you were alive in the early '70s, you knew the ad. Even if you weren't, you probably do: "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" was such a hit upon its Feb. 12, 1971, debut that radio DJs were flooded with calls to play it, "as if it were a song by The Doors or the Jackson 5," notes the Washington Post. It was the brainchild of Bill Backer, who died Friday in Warrenton, Va., at age 89. The tributes are pouring in for the man whose most famous ad featured into the final scene in the series finale of Mad Men.

Hat tip to Deb.