Wil Anderson hates advertising. So why does he host a show about it?

Now in it 18th season, Wil Anderson says Gruen is growing in relevance. (ABC) Link copiedShareShare articleWil Anderson has always hated advertising. But after 18 years working on his panel show, Gruen, he now describes it more as a loathing. "It's awful. Most of what is made by the advertising industry is shit," the award-winning comedian says. "I don't find it fascinating or interesting, I find it terrifying and manipulative and destructive," he says, frankly. With a panel of four experts featuring regulars Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft, Gruen boasts being the country's longest-running — and only — show about advertising. This photo from 2010 shows how long Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft have been involved in Gruen. (ABC) So, what keeps the marketing cynic in Anderson fit for the hosting chair? According to him, skepticism is exactly what a show like Gruen needs. "I don't think you could have the show hosted by somebody who likes advertising, because what would that show be? A bunch of people talking about how good ads are, what an awful show that would be," he says. Anderson puts it down to two things: wanting to arm people with tools against advertising, and an admiration for the team he works with. "We do the show because we want to give people some agency in the way that they're being manipulated by these multi-billion-dollar industries," he says. The host describes advertising as "terrifying". (Supplied: Cassandra Hannagan) It's not so much to stop people from engaging with ads, he says, but to make them aware of industry tactics so they can make informed decisions. Since its 2008 launch, Anderson has witnessed a categorical shift in the advertising industry. What was once the concept of stumbling across a billboard in a public place has now become targeted content direct to your phone, specific to your interests. "I could sit on a couch in my living room and the person sitting next to me could be seeing completely different advertisements than the ones I am, and you could be living in the same house," he says. Telling the difference between an ad and other content is increasingly difficult on social media, as it becomes flooded with influencers being paid to promote products. Australia's favourite multi-award-winning, multi-award losing, longest-running and only show about advertising is back. According to Giselle Newton, a researcher at the University of Queensland, online advertising strategies are exceedingly covert. "It's not just what ads you're seeing, but the frequency, time of day or day of the week they appear. They can reach you at a time when you are most likely to click and follow through to purchase," Dr Newton says. Hovering over or clicking on an ad can cause similar products to pop up on your feed. Not to mention the technological advancements that Anderson says continue to mould the next best strategy. "The advertising industry is already one of the first places that is leaning into using AI, not just making your ads, but the way that they distribute and target their ads," Anderson says. "When these companies want to sell us something, they need to have our data, what we're watching and what we're into. The only reason they need to do that is for advertising." It's for these reasons Anderson thinks Gruen is more relevant now than ever. Just last year, it was nominated for a TV Week Logie for Best Comedy Entertainment Program. As such, Anderson describes the 2025 iteration of the show as the "best season that we've ever done". Wil Anderson says Gruen is responding to shifts in the advertising world. (ABC) There is a renewed sense of surprise and intrigue that has been brought on by new advertising approaches, like the personalised algorithm. "Quite often in our meetings, we sit around a table, and someone who's maybe a 22-year-old member of our staff will be like, 'On TikTok, this is all I'm seeing.' And, for the rest of us, none of us has ever seen it before," he says. "You get the combination of showing one subsection of the audience an advertisement that they're seeing all the time, and yet another section, the surprise of being made aware of something that everybody else is seeing that they're not seeing that often." Anderson says this evolution in advertising means Gruen is very different to how it was five, 10, or 18 years ago. Stream Gruen free on ABC iview or watch on ABC TV, Wednesdays at 8pm. Copy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)PromotionTop StoriesProperty investors targeted in 'ambitious' budgetTopic:Government and Politics

Wil Anderson hates advertising. So why does he host a show about it?

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Wil Anderson hates advertising. So why does he host a show about it?

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