The Gruen Transfer on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) may be the cleverest act of media jujitsu executed by state-supported television in decades. I know this post wanders features neither Anglo or American culture nor life in Singapore, but the show's format and mission are seriously interesting and simultaneously entertaining. Essentially the television program deconstructs the mechanics of advertising using, in large part, the talents and words of top Australian marketing firms. The same people who came up with the hilarious Big Ad and beer catapults turn out to be really engaging behind-the-scenes characters.
Teaching the public about the methods ad men use to sell products to their audiences constitutes an unassailable public mission for a broadcasting corporation supported by license fees. The real twist comes from the choice to include, or maybe even co-opt, the advertising firms themselves in presenting the revelations. Reality programming has demonstrated that few people can resist the opportunity to appear on television, but it's the weekly Pitch that keeps the show entertaining rather than preachy and makes ad firms clammer for inclusion. The Pitch features two major ad firms in a head-to-head showdown to see who can sell ice to Eskimos and convince Australians to keep cane toads for pets, i. e. selling the unsellable. The results capture the Australian spirit of self deprecation while gently dismantling the insiduous displays that interrupt commercial broadcasting. It's almost like an extended case for state-supported, commercial-free media.
Unsurprisingly, good programming will always serve as the best argument for continuing the BBC-inspired license fee model of state media. I have embedded above and below a couple highlights from the first season of the Pitch.
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