Hacker Cinema
The Gruen Transfer
2008 · TV series · 45 min episodes · 14 seasons
Created by Andrew Denton
Advertising: how it works, and how it works on us. Decode and defuse the commercial messages that swirl through our lives, with the help of a panel of ad industry experts.
3 positive1 neutralfrom 4 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
4 comments on Hacker News
After I wrote that, I decided to kind of test this.
I first searched “Gruen transfer” using Kagi. First hit was the Wikipedia article with enough showing to feel I didn’t need to go there because of what I’d read here already. Right below that, indented for grouping, is a Wikipedia link to a TV show by the same name. I skimmed that article to see where/when it was shown. Anyone here ever watched it? Curious if it’s any good.
Then I searched the same with google. The presentation is more noisy. And organized less. It’s hard to compare the two, because viewing one before the other affects the second (no double slit opportunity here). I did notice that I felt subliminally drawn/distracted to the visual thumbnails of the tv show, rather than the Wikipedia entry.
I agree that on or in public transport is fair for advertising- but I strongly dislike billboards that block interesting views of buildings, poke their brightly coloured cheeks into the skyline or glare brightly into lofts and apartments. One of the differences is that advertisers on public transport are often highly censored- where as the car-yard or similar can go for the cheapest artist, horrid paint, off-colour humour. Some advertising- like some tv, is actually quite good, as a form of art. For examples of this, - and some general roasting of the advertising industry, check out episodes of "the gruen transfer" by Australian national broadcaster ABC.
I wonder if the real reason advertising companies are worried about millenials is that they just avoid advertising whenever they can. There is a growing awareness about the effects of advertising, and the popular trends are towards reuse and recycling, even if those trends are mostly bullshit.
In Australia we have a popular TV show called Gruen Transfer which does nothing but breakdown ads and explains how they do what they do.
Finally, a biased anecdote from a millenial: Myself and many of my friends avoid ads by using ad-blockers and subscription services and not leaving the TV on when there is nothing to watch. Whereas my parents (about 60) watched far more television and didn't use ad-blockers... although recently they have been turning the TV off and using their ipads instead.
Not an answer to your question exactly, but to the whole premise: Gruen transfer [0]. We have a great TV show by that name here in Australia that deconstructs advertising.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruen_transfer