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Mental
Engineering is produced by
Porcupine Productions
St.
Paul, MN
Catherine
Reid Day
Executive Producer
(651)
387-3333
mailto:crday@mentalengineering.com
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SHOW: ABC WORLD NEWS SATURDAY (6:30 pm ET)
AUGUST 7, 1999
SHOW ABOUT COMMERCIALS ON COMMERCIAL-FREE TV
Finally tonight -- public television is known for being
commercial-free. But a new program is actually putting ads on the
public airwaves. There's a twist, though. As ABC's JimWilliams
reports, these ads are under attack.
DIRECTOR: Tapes rolling, count them down. Five, four.
JIM WILLIAMS, ABC News: (voice-over) It seems everything these
days is critiqued on television. So perhaps it was inevitable that
critics would examine the art and message.
JOHN FORDE, Host, "Mental Engineering": Let's take a look at our
first commercial
JIM WILLIAMS, ABC News: (voice-over) .of the television
commercial.
JOHN FORDE: You don't realize by the time a child goes from birth
to adulthood, they have seen a half a million television
commercials. It's hard to ignore that.
JIM WILLIAMS, ABC News: (voice-over) John Forde says he
created the TV Show "Mental Engineering" because commercials
have an enormous effect on our behavior and need to be analyzed.
JOHN FORDE: Commercials use psychology on us, and they work
on us for an hour a day. And they get no rebuttal.
JIM WILLIAMS: (voice-over) It's a decidedly low-budget production.
And there's nothing else like it on the air.
COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: For more than 145 years, people
across America have relied on Mass Mutual for life insurance.
TIM MITCHELL, Commercial Critic: This was a direct appeal to
dad. "If you die, your kids are going to suffer!"
JIM WILLIAMS: (voice-over) The show's panelists take on some of
Madison Avenue's biggest commercials.
ACTRESS: (Clip from commercial) What kind of man are you
looking for?
JIM WILLIAMS: (voice-over) Like this soft drink ad featuring a
young woman who realizes she doesn't need a dating service.
TIM MITCHELL: There are consumer items that can take the place
of sexual relationship with a man. But I don't like to think that Diet
Coke is one of them.
KRISTEN TILLOTSON, Commercial Critic: You don't find romance
when you're looking for it. You have to trip over it. It wasn't about
Diet Coke at all.
JIM WILLIAMS: (voice-over) After more than a year on cable
television, "Mental Engineering" will soon be seen on nearly 40 public
broadcast stations across the country. But there is a potential
problem for the show. (on camera) Even many PBS stations have sponsors. And
sponsors have commercials that the show might criticize.
LESLIE SAVAN, "Village Voice" Ad Columnist: I think there's just
too many commercial interests. The whole system depends on
making the ad and the companies look good, not on making them
look foolish.
JOHN FORDE: What is the product?
JIM WILLIAMS: (voice-over) But for now, the show is taking its
irreverent message to a wider audience, hoping even more
stations will be willing to bite the hand that feeds them.
Jim Williams, ABC News, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Host - johnforde@mentalengineering.com
Producer - Producer@MentalEngineering.com
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