Green’s Dictionary of Slang

pertaining to advertising; thus adman, ad exec, ad agency.

1909		Collier’s 22 May 15/2: So in a sense, the ad-man is a public entertainer.
1923		Mencken letter 21 Mar. in Riggio Dreiser-Mencken Letters II (1986) 489: Curses on all ad. writers.
1933		Scrutiny I 400: Like all successful ad-men he has come to believe quite uncritically in what he sells.
1956		I. Fleming Diamonds Are Forever (1958) 104: All the ad. men in the world couldn’t have dreamed it up.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 136: An Egyptian ad man on the skids from the sauce.
1969		N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 152: Charlie Watts worked in an ad agency.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 364: Florida’s nothing but an adman’s wet dream.
1999		T. Dorsey Florida Roadkill 137: The ad exec broke out his stash immediately.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Culture 30 Jan. 12: An ad man on the skids.