The Gruen Transfer

For about a year now I've been receiving a daily Yahoo group mailing called "Media Squatters." It's a bunch of media nerds like Douglass Rushkoff discussing marketing, politics, and consumer culture. Most days I don't have time to really follow the conversation, but today someone shared something really great.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a new show called The Gruen Transfer (the show takes its name from the phenomenon that happens when you walk into a shopping mall, aptly named for the architect of the first shopping mall, Victor Gruen).

It's a panel show that lightheartedly dissects how advertising works and, as the show's catchline says, "how it works on you." Each episode features a snarky little host joined by four advertising "experts" who offer their witty suspicions about the motives and methods behind major advertising campaigns. It's a bit glib and self-satisfied, yet it also stops short of sanctimony. For example, one of the running gags of the show is called "Sell It," where executives from well-known advertising agencies try to out-do one another in crafting a commercial for the unthinkable. In the first episode, the unsellable product was Japanese whale meat. The execs participate eagerly, openly acknowledge that theirs is a craft that can hock garbage and gold with equal vigor.

Give it a look. You can subscribe to new episodes using iTunes. Below is a clip from the first episode (Note the content warning at the beginning).