Media Decoder: WNET\'s New Advertising Campaign Uses Reality TV as a Punchline

An Ad Campaign at WNET Uses Reality TV as a Punchline

After years of viewers complaining about reality television, a television station is chiming in.

The goal of the campaign, which questions the overall quality of television, is to add members as the channel celebrates its 50th year.

WNET, the PBS station in New York that broadcasts on Channel 13, is to begin an advertising campaign on Monday composed of posters in about 185 subway stations and Twitter feeds. The goal of the campaign, with a budget estimated at $45,000, is to encourage people to join WNET as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Rather than making a typical point - that WNET's shows like “Live From Lincoln Center,” “Masterpiece” and “Sesame Street” are far superior to reality fare - the posters take a cheeky tack by promoting five reality series that do not exist: “Bad Bad Bagboys,” “Bayou Eskimos,” “The Dillionaire,” “Knitting Wars” and “Married to a Mime.”

The make-believe shows are billed as being on make-believe channels like Insight and Arts, The Know Channel and Wonder Network - names that evoke the channels that lace their schedules with reality fare, among them A&E, once Arts & Entertainment; Discovery; and TLC, formerly The Learning Channel.

The payoff comes on the right side of the posters, which point to the fake advertisements and declare: “The fact you thought this was a real show says a lot about the state of TV. Support quality programming. Join us at thirteen.org.”

The intent is to present WNET as “an island in a sea of madness,” said Kellie Specter, senior director for communications and marketing at WNET.

The campaign was created by the New York office of CHI & Partners, part of WPP, which has been working for WNET since September on a pro bono basis.

WNET's pledge drives “talk to people who are already watching,” said Victoria Davies, managing director of CHI & Partners New York. “We wanted to do something outside the channel, something people would enjoy, rather than something aggressive.”

The hope is that passers-by will “look twice” at the posters, she added, in the belief that “all these shows could be shows.”

The Twitter element of the campaign will involve posts from the fake stars of the fake shows: @RonPickles from “The Dillionaire”; @KnitterDaisy from “Knitting Wars”; and @StanTheMime and @MimeWife of “Married to a Mime.”

WNET has about 180,000 members, Ms. Specter said, and the anniversary goal is 50,000 new members. “CHI helped us come up with the goal and is helping us reach the goal,” she added. “We've over 31,000 new members since September.”

A version of this article appeared in print on May 27, 2013, on page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: An Ad Campaign at WNET Uses Reality TV as a Punchline.