ASSOCIATED PRESS-NY-09-02-99
0106EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Talk
about a pitch man. John Forde can seduce you into paying
attention to television commercials and then, get this,
thinking about them.
That's because Forde,
a charmingly loose cannon who has fixed his aim on the
American way of selling, knows how to entertain as he
encourages us to avoid being patsies with credit cards.
``Mental Engineering''
is his vehicle, a new half-hour series that is making
its way to an increasing
number of PBS stations. The premise is simple: Forde
and his guests, including professors, comics and writers,
view and critique TV ads.
The result isn't exactly
argument television a la ``Politically Incorrect'' or
``The McLaughlin Group,'' but there is lively discussion
as panelists zing the manipulative tricks shamelessly
employed by advertisers.
Setting the tone is
Forde, who comes across like Jim Carrey with a master's
degree. His approach can verge on the scholarly (he
was, after all, a philosophy major) and the conversation
occasionally sounds like a self-conscious dorm session.
But Forde, with a toothy,
manic grin that gives him away, prods his guests to
lighten the mood with smart-minded quips. In discussing
a commercial touting a paper towel's germ-fighting abilities,
he asks why the bathroom in the ad is shot out of focus.
So you can't see the overflowing landfill outside the
window, panelist Kristin Tillotson suggests.
Comedian Tim Mitchell's
ire is stoked by a commercial for an economy car that
plays on class differences by asking whether rich people
are ``more entitled to brake safely on a rainy day.''
``I don't think people are going to fall for this ad,
that somehow Buick is against the rich. Yeah, 'Buy the
new Buick Commie-mobile,'' quips Mitchell.
``Mental Engineering'
has its roots in cable access television and retains
some production minimalism: simple graphics and a spare
set, and editing that could use a bit more spark.
``We knew going into
it we needed to make awkward look somewhat cool,'' says
Forde (pronounced Ford-dee), speaking from St. Paul,
Minn., where he lives and where the show is taped.
But the show's heart
and head are in the right place, as Forde sees it.
``Mental Engineering''
tries to amuse while ensuring that advertising, which
he considers the dominant propaganda of our time, gets
the scrutiny it should. ``The head of one of the biggest
advertising firms said the purpose of advertising is
to get the consumer to live vicariously through the
brand. ... That's saying, 'This is how we want to get
people to spend their lives,' ''
Forde said. ``That's
got a lot of gravity.''
He turns to a text,
``How Advertising Works,'' published by Sage Publications,
to make another point.``It's well documented that the
function of advertising is to increase your satisfaction
with the brand you're already using. It's about deepening
your rut,'' Forde says. He himself is definitely anti-rut.
Forde, 41, passed on
a career as a psychologist after deciding media would
be a better fit. He was encouraged by the press secretary
to U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., who advised Forde
he could be ``the liberal Rush Limbaugh.'' After a brief
stint as an on-air intern with a Twin Cities radio talk
show - ``All hostile, all the time,'' jokes Forde -
he signed up in 1997 for a class in public access TV.
In short order, he produced 18 episodes of ``Mental
Engineering'' on a shoestring.
Encouraged by the response,
Forde gambled his life savings (with his wife's blessing)
to make 13 new, slicker episodes. The series is airing
on PBS stations in cities including Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, N.Y., Seattle,
Washington D.C., Denver, Omaha, Neb., Indianapolis and
New Orleans.
He's searching for funding
to do more shows - warning, however, that even underwriters
may find their ads under the microscope. (Network options
beyond noncommercial PBS, of course, would be slim and
none.)
Ultimately, Forde hopes
that ``Mental Engineering'' will encourage viewers to
think critically about the world in general, beyond
advertising. ``Our mission is to model the art and the
habit of asking good questions, and to do this through
this tangible, vivid thing (advertising),'' he said.
My, my. Who could have
guessed TV commercials would be the subject of rigorous
intellectual analysis?
``By whom?'' Forde responds,
chortling. A salesman to the very end.
EDITOR'S NOTE - Lynn
Elber can be reached at lelber''at''ap.org
Host - johnforde@mentalengineering.com
Producer - Producer@MentalEngineering.com
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