Australian reality TV show analyses the impact of ads
Reality TV goes Down Under for a realistic approach to the world of fantasies. In a serious and realistic approach, the channel presents advertising as a science and a discipline in a new programme called The Gruen Transfer.
The programme beamed on the country's public Australian Broadcasting Corp. network asks common people about their understanding of advertisements and whether they convey what they are suppose to.
It's to be noted the Australian Broadcasting Corp. does not accept commercials and the entire funding for the station is through licensing fees and public grants.
The show, hosted by comedian Will Anderson attempts to get behind the ads people see on TV and find out what makes them a success or in certain cases a failure.
"There have been shows on advertising in the past, but most have been nothing more than a compilation of advertisements telecast with the intention to please advertising firms," says an industry expert based in Dubai Media City.
These advertising programmes such as the Time Warner's World's Funniest Commercials or others with similar titles offer more of entertainment than information or enlightenment.
But producers of The Gruen Transfer are more courageous and "look down their nose a little bit at advertising," says Andrew Denton, a co-creator and co-executive producer of the programme. "People have actually missed the point that advertising – because it's actively trying to play us – is actually probably the smartest industry of them all," he was quoted in AdAge, a dedicated web portal on advertising and marketing.
CBS, in the US, is also suppose to be working on a new show called Jingles, which has apparently gone into production and is expected to focus on contestants writing and performing catchy jingles for food and other products. Apart from that, there's been very little catering to the TV commercial industry in the US.
Industry experts have been critical of these compiled TC commercial programmes. "These are nothing but free commercial space for large media houses and is perceived as nothing more than a 'thank you gesture from TV channels by the media houses," said a media official on condition of anonymity.
In support of the programme Amanda Duthie, head of arts, entertainment and comedy for ABC says: "No one has really wrestled advertising to the ground, and it is something that sort of permeates every minute of our waking lives."
The Gruen Transfer is named after Victor Gruen, designer of the first shopping mall. The term refers to "that split second when the mall's intentionally confusing layout makes our eyes glaze and our jaws slacken... the moment when we forget what we came for and become impulse buyers," according to the programme's website.
Comedian Wil Anderson is the host who interacts with a panel of advertising executives analysing what it is exactly that makes the ads work or flop.
In one of the on-the-spot exercise two participants from New Zealand were asked to design a campaign to lure Australian tourists to New Zealand. The two Kiwi participants asked travellers to avoid visiting Australia citing statistics on how many tourists were killed each year Down Under.
The Gruen completed its initial 10-episode run on July 30, and enjoyed some ratings success as well. Its last episode reached about 1.46 million viewers, making it one of the higher-rated programs on ABC this year. The Gruen has "been commissioned" for a second season, say producers of the programme, who would like to explore the idea of selling the format to broadcasters in other countries.