ABC TO SEEK RESPECT IN $1 MILLION BID

ABC, feeling somewhat like Rodney Dangerfield, has budgeted more than $1 million in the coming year for an unusual advertising campaign to extol the virtues of commercial television and boost respect for the medium.

“We want people to feel better about television,” explains James Duffy, president of the ABC Television Network and senior vice president of the ABC Broadcast Group.

He said that the concept for the campaign was developed over the last few years, long before ABC fell into third place in the prime-time ratings and before it agreed to be taken over by Capital Cities Communications.

The impetus, Duffy suggested, had more to do with the battering that commercial television’s image has taken over the last few years with the growth of cable TV, home video and other forms of video communications, which frequently have been hailed for freeing viewers from the tyranny of the networks.

“There was a feeling that it (commercial TV) is taken for granted and doesn’t have the respect we’d like it to have,” he said.

Since the campaign was formally launched March 25, the network has taken out ads in six major newspapers and has been running one-minute spots on the air that talk about how the commercial TV system works and about the contributions ABC believes it makes to society.

The on-air and print campaigns will continue for at least the next few years, Duffy said in an interview here Wednesday. That will be augmented by a “concentrated series of personal appearances” by him and other ABC executives to meet in local communities across the country with civic leaders, educators, students and other members of the public.

“People really don’t understand the broadcast system in this country,” he said. “They understand programming, they understand commercials, they know what they like and don’t like, but so many people--including opinion leaders--don’t understand how the commercial system works.”

Duffy, a 37-year veteran of ABC who on June 1 will move into the newly created position of president of communications for the ABC Broadcast Group, said he and other network executives are concerned by the widespread misconceptions about the medium that they believe are held not only by average viewers but by government officials, educators, businessmen and special interest groups.

He said that these misconceptions range from how programs and commercials get on the air to the role that advertisers and affiliated stations play in the TV business and to the responsibility that broadcasters feel for the impact of what they televise.

One of the TV spots now airing, for example, features Duffy talking about the captioning system that allows deaf and hearing-impaired viewers to see many programs with subtitles, allowing them to understand and enjoy TV for, in many cases, the first time. A coming spot will talk about how broadcasters have heightened awareness of social issues such as drunk driving, teen-age suicide and child abuse.

Duffy said that ABC will be airing the spots on an average of 12 to 15 times a week, throughout all parts of the network schedule. They are being dropped into 30- and 60-second time slots where commercial time went unsold, where a program ran short or where a promotional spot would have aired.

The newspaper ads will run approximately every two weeks (including in The Times business section), he said, and will discuss how the broadcast system works and perhaps comment on industry-related issues on which ABC wants to make known its position. The ad that ran last week, for instance, explained the role that the broadcast standards and practices department plays in monitoring what goes on the air.

Insisting that the campaign is informational in nature, rather than promotional, Duffy said that ABC also is interested in getting feedback and questions from viewers about television. When possible, ABC will answer letters personally, he said, or will address the issues raised in them in future ads.

Viewers can write to Duffy at ABC-TV, P.O. Box 1277, Radio City Station, New York, N.Y. 10101.