MetaFilter posts tagged with culture and television

Advertising in the public interest

Rhaomi — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:54:54 -0800

"What if America wasn't America?" That was the question posed by a series of ads broadcast in the wake of the September 11th attacks, ads which depicted a dystopian America bereft of liberty: Library - Diner - Church. Together with more positive ads like Remember Freedom and I Am an American, they encouraged frightened viewers to cherish their freedoms and defend against division and prejudice in the face of terrorism (seven years previously). The campaign was the work of the Ad Council, a non-profit agency that employs the creative muscle of volunteer advertisers to raise awareness for social issues of national importance. Founded during WWII as the War Advertising Council, the organization has been behind some of the most memorable public service campaigns in American history, including Rosie the Riveter, Smokey the Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog, and the Crash Test Dummies. And the Council is still at it today, producing striking, funny, and above all effective PSAs on everything from student invention to global warming to arts education to community service.

Additional resources: A-to-Z index of Ad Council campaigns - Campaigns organized by category - Award-winning campaigns - PSA Central: A free download directory of TV, radio, and print PSAs (registration req'd) - An exhaustive history of the Ad Council [46-page PDF] - YouTube channel - Vimeo channel - Twitter feed

Perverted Justice & Dateline NBC: Repsonsbile for Conradt's death? Yea/Nay/Otherwise.

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 19:09:55 -0800

The Shame Game. Perverted Justice (prev.) and Dateline NBC's series of To Catch A Predator specials are of questionable-at-best morality and have received much fl ak, particularly on the part of the former party. At the Columbia Journalism review, Douglas McCollum shares the case of Louis Conradt Jr., who killed himself upon being pounced upon by police and Dateline's cameras. McCollum also takes issue with NBC's paying of Perverted Justice for their services. And, for the other side, PJ's rebuttal.

The Tube -- Not Just for Boobs Anymore

digaman — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 16:00:17 -0800

My Favorite Wasteland. "Need more reasons to stay home? You could probably find them sitting in the row behind you. Many members of the contemporary movie audience, only marginally socialized, would have made a misanthrope of Gandhi... Grownups who do choose to remain at home with the remote--and I often count myself among them, not a TV enthusiast exactly, but certainly a sympathist--have no reason to apologize. TV can now teach Hollywood something about smarts." [via]

Your own personal GOD warrior

Lola_G — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 14:28:21 -0800

Marguerite Perrin gained infamy as the self-proclaimed "God Warrior" on Fox's Trading Spouses. If you hurry, you can claim your own personal "God Warrior" to help you defend yourself against all the tainted, ungodly elements in the world.

NOISE

sjvilla79 — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:58:54 -0800

NOISE is a global youth arts initiative (under 25s) that develops and profiles artists and their work across television, radio, in print and online. Requires Flash. [MI]

Where America Meets the World

kliuless — Thu, 26 May 2005 19:37:13 -0800

Foreign Exchange TV with Fareed Zakaria - I'd heard about it, but thought it was only showing on OPB; checked again and lo and behold all the episodes are online! Watched a couple episodes so far; they're pretty good, esp if you're into foreign policy and stuff :D

After all, it's the wave of the future, wave of the future, wave of the future, ...

kliuless — Mon, 23 May 2005 04:17:45 -0800

Steven Levy and Mark Pesce on the future of television. Oh and Conan O'brien! :D [via]

Vote For The Worst

herc — Sat, 07 May 2005 09:19:26 -0800

Vote For The Worst American Idol contestant and be a foot solider against cornball programming. In the battle between an Internet movement and television producers, so far the rouge site has the lead. But as we get closer to the show's finale, can the contrarians keep the worst contestants in the mix?

Not just for Trekkies anymore...

FunkyHelix — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 08:15:35 -0800

Fandom is, at the core, neither good or bad. It simply is. [+]

'I hope Fox News viewers will understand the computer has to be on.'

anastasiav — Wed, 12 May 2004 16:55:26 -0800

Blah Blah Blogging :: "The following is a meticulously detailed recap of a news segment that appeared on the Chicago FOX news affiliate on Wednesday, May 5th, 2004." -- Intelligent blogger agrees to appear in puff piece about blogging for FOX news. These are the results.

Ripped Straight From The Coloring Book

Stan Chin — Fri, 29 Aug 2003 21:55:35 -0800

"After all Law & Order has done for us, I feel it's the least I can do for Law & Order" Well it's about damn time! Yes, it's Law & Order:Artistic Intent. I dare say that Jerry Orbach hasn't looked this good since Dirty Dancing. Don't leave your kids out, they'll have a great afternoon with the Law & Order Coloring Book. I eagerly await a similarly themed L. A. Law or Hillstreet Blues exhibition.

Nobody can resist the one-eyed demon

Termite — Sat, 14 Jun 2003 12:06:46 -0800

The one-eyed demon. In 1999 Bhutan, one of the most isolated countries in the world (Bhutan seems to have been the model för Shangri-la in James Hilton's "Lost Horizon"), became the last country in the world to adopt television. The king of Bhutan wasn't much interested in gross national product, but in his own concept "gross national happiness" and he believed that TV would increase his nation's happiness. Since then, Bhutan has experienced a crime wave unlike anything the country has previously known. This article tells the story and claims that TV breeds crime. But the questions raised by this story are wider than that: what is it that makes our Western TV-Coke-advertisement-culture totally irresistible? Why do people instantly feel they want it when they see it? Why hasn't any nation looked at the junk we have to offer, laughed at us and walked away?

sassone — Mon, 03 Jun 2002 12:12:21 -0800

This column (NYT/reg. req) gets my vote for Stupidest Theory of the Day. Basically, he says that movies are more memorable and stay with us longer than TV shows. Huh?! He's kidding, right? (more inside).

christina — Sun, 22 Jul 2001 10:11:34 -0800

The Tourist Who Won't Go Home
The recent ugly american thread has brought out ethnocentricity and xenophobia in us over crimes like socks with shorts--we forget happen at home just as often. meanwhile violence errupts when tourists forget they are guests in someone's home. But is the real crime the errosion of the cultures we visit? Do movements like Slow Food have a chance protecting native cultures, or the Americanization of the world inevitable?