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...days into the month of August, the ABC network unleashed a monster $40 million advertising campaign to boost its sagging viewership and rejuvenate its tarnished third-place image. With alarming suddenness, the "TV is good" ads with their aggressive canary-yellow backgrounds and cynical images were everywhere--in subways, on buses, on the sides of buildings, in magazines and, not surprisingly...
Touting no show in particular, the ABC campaign tries to convince viewers that it's okay to indulge heavily in the "harmless habit" of TV-watching, especially now that the fall season is on its way and the network desperately needs higher ratings. But the ads, trying so hard to bring an ironic hipness to the medium, are as a whole deeply contradictory and display nothing more than the network's own anxiety about the future of television. "TV is good" may be the official theme of the campaign, but there's little positive about the phrase on those yellow...
...course, these lines are not meant to be taken entirely seriously. The network is not solemnly proclaiming the worthlessness of television--if total self-deprecation were the objective, ABC executives would be better off emptying out their offices and heading home. Instead, ABC is playing with the popular perception of TV, trying to capitalize on the public's disparaging attitude by reinforcing it: a semi-clever, though desperate, if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them strategy. Media analyst Barbara Lippert considers the campaign rather cutting-edge. "The trendiest thing," she writes, "is the underlying strategy: to acknowledge that...
...cynicism really the best way for the lowest-rated major network to arouse the public's interest? Ratings for all of the "Big Three" television networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) have been slipping steadily for years, a sign that people are turning elsewhere (cable, videos, multiplexes) for entertainment. With the exception of an occasional hit like "ER," people are tuning out. The status of network TV in the minds of the public is too weak to support irony. ABC's posters, joking about the pointlessness, lack of impact and questionable quality of most TV programming, come too close...
...week of Kennedy bashing to boost media ratings wouldn't be complete without a shot at Camelot. Days after John F. Kennedy Jr. launched a mini family feud, questioning the morality of his cousins in an article sure to boost sales of his magazine, George, a Swedish aristocrat tells ABC's "20/20" she had a six-year affair with John Sr., starting just weeks before he married Jacqueline Bouvier...