BOB GARFIELD: When the thousands of American troops now based in the Persian Gulf head back to base after a hard ride across the sand, they might well kick back and turn on the TV. But it's not TV as we know it. It's American Forces Network -- or AFN-- the Defense Department's sponsor-free service fed to soldiers stationed in the States and around the globe. AFN airs a lot of top-rated programs from back home. The troops see everything from the NFL to the West Wing, but they don't see commercials. Instead the military fills in the gaps with its very own unique style of advertising. Brian Montopoli wrote about the ads for The American Prospect. Brian, welcome to OTM.

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Thanks for having me.

BOB GARFIELD: Now I've watched some Armed Forces Television in Europe, and when the commercial breaks come on, what I remember is stuff that looks like what you see when you're sitting in the dentist's chair, getting-- you know - holes drilled [LAUGHTER] in your jaw--

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Right.

BOB GARFIELD: -- this kind of namby-pamby nature scenery and so forth.

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Well they tell me that they're cutting back on the scenic filler spots, as they call them. The, you know, look-at-how-beautiful-the-Alaskan-wilderness-is for two minutes which I think will make any television viewer a little frustrated in favor of sort of these more socially-directed messages.

BOB GARFIELD:I gather that the commercials that are appearing on AFN are not quite equivalent to the things that you see for lite beer or laundry soap here in the States.

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: That's right. They spend about 25,000 dollars on each spot. I guess sometimes the budget constraints show. Some of the spots you see look pretty cheesy or hokey. You'll have stuff like "Remember to balance your checkbook" -- but you know - a lot of times they have powerful messages. There's one where an Air Force pilot who was in Vietnam and talking about how he did not give any information to his captors despite the fact that that earned him extra torture. [MUSIC]

AIR FORCE PILOT: We used the Code of Conduct for our anchor point. Had it not been standing on the precepts of the Fighting Man's Code of Conduct, our lives would have been a lot easier. But we wouldn't want to have lived without trying to maintain and uphold that Code of Conduct.

MAN: I am an American fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: You know even if you're only producing it with 25,000 dollars, that's a pretty powerful thing to hear.

BOB GARFIELD: Did you talk to any of the officers or enlisted people about the ads and what did they tell you about how they react to them.

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: The people I talk to generally sort of take them -- I mean you get used to this; you know - it's just like we don't talk about, wow, that last Coke commercial really got me -for the most part. You know I first came across the spots -- I was living in Italy, teaching in an American school, and we had kids from the base, and they would bring tapes of shows, and they'd have their favorite ads, and they'd go "You gotta watch this." When you're trying to deal with something like sexual harassment on 25,000 dollars to produce and write the script and hire the actors, perhaps it's not done as delicately as it could be.

MAN: Morning.

WOMAN: Morning.

MAN: You're sure looking good today.

WOMAN: Excuse me? I really don't appreciate that kind of comment.

MAN: What? I'm just trying to give you a compliment!

WOMAN: Well then you need to work on that. [MUSIC]

MAN: Have a nice day.

WOMAN/VOICEOVER: Even if you mean well, it's still possible to be guilty of sexual harassment, because it's not what you intend -- it's how it's perceived by the other person.

BOB GARFIELD:So there's 3,000-some spots in the inventory. Do they just run randomly? Is there any rhyme or reason to - when they run the torture spot and when they run the-- scenic view of rural Appalachia?

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Oh, believe it or not - if they see the problem, the spots on AFN are used to correct that problem. A base commander can say you know we're having a real problem with drinking and driving, and if the drinking and driving spot was showing, say, 4 times a week, they'll bump it up to 20 times. And they need blood donation -- all of a sudden you're going to see the blood donation spot, or they're having a problem with sexual harassment -- you're going to see the sexual harassment spot.

BOB GARFIELD:It's actually a great laboratory to figure out if advertising works. What did the brass tell you -- when they heavy up on the anti-spousal abuse ads, do fewer abused wives show up in the emergency room?

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Apparently if you do have a problem on a base, this is one very effective way to fix it; so take that for what it's worth.

BOB GARFIELD: I'm just curious - one other thing -- as we well know, in the military there is a policy since the Clinton administration of "Don't ask; don't tell." Any spots about homosexuality and what you should ask and what you shouldn't tell?

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: You know I asked them about that, and-- they told me that it was unnecessary to have a don't ask/don't tell spot because it was common knowledge. Now I [LAUGHS] - I would say balancing your checkbook is also common knowledge, so-- clearly there's some politics going on here, but-- I hesitate to imagine what a don't ask/don't tell spot produced on 25,000 dollars would look like, so-- we'll leave it at that.

BOB GARFIELD: [LAUGHS] Brian Montopoli, thank you very much!

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Thanks for having me.

BOB GARFIELD: Brian Montopoli is a Washington writer. He wrote about the Armed Forces Network for The American Prospect. [MUSIC]

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Coming up, filtering the horror of war in still photographs today and moving pictures half a century ago.

BOB GARFIELD: This is On the Media from NPR.