‘Buys & Advertising’ Looks Like a Sellout : Television: NBC News’ frequently entertaining program about commercials is really an ad for anchorwoman Deborah Norville and her slumping ‘Today’ show.

The NBC News “special” (that musty word documentary is now passe at NBC, it seems) is “Sex, Buys & Advertising.” It’s available at 10 tonight on Channels 4, 36 and 39.

The anchor is Deborah Norville. She’s available weekday mornings on NBC’s “Today” program.

Along with the mundane, there is some very interesting material here relating to the nation’s $126-billion advertising industry: behind-the-scenes looks at the making of Michael J. Fox’s newest Pepsi commercial and Bo Jackson’s latest Nike campaign, plus an anatomy of an advertising agency’s failed attempt to snag a big ice cream account.

What strikes you most, however, is that this gyrating, visually exciting, frequently entertaining program about commercials is a commercial.

For Norville and, indirectly, “Today.”

As a gorgeous model for Estee Lauder appears on the screen tonight, Norville observes: “The idea is for her image to become the brand’s identity.” The same could be said for Norville’s image and “Today,” which has still not rebounded from its severe ratings decline following Norville taking over Jane Pauley’s co-host spot beside Bryant Gumbel in January. Norville took a lot of criticism for that plunge, and NBC clearly hopes that repairing her image will also repair the “Today” show’s image.

Hence, the Norville campaign for July: NBC shows her off to a gathering of TV critics in Los Angeles. It places her on “The Tonight Show.” And it gives her a prime-time “special” of her own (tonight’s), in which she’s shown doing just enough standups and asking just enough questions to establish her as a gen-u-ine reporter.

Just what are Norville’s credentials for getting her own prime-time documentary before, say, crack correspondent Andrea Mitchell or any of the other NBC reporters who have spent years paying their dues?

Her job on “Today,” good looks and perceived star potential are her credentials.

Meanwhile, Norville tonight speaks about “all the commercials you don’t know you’re getting.” Well, not quite all of them. Omitted from “Sex, Buys & Advertising” are the many unlabeled unpaid commercials that litter TV.

They come from talk-show guests whose only reason for appearing is to hype their latest books or movies.

They come from the networks themselves, which sometimes place guests on their own shows (a la Norville on “The Tonight Show”) solely to plug their own shows.

They come in baloney news stories such as multipart series that “Today” has run detailing the making of certain summer movies. Little news value, lots of promotional value.

We do hear on “Sex, Buys & Advertising” about psychological research aimed at kids for the purpose of commercials. We hear from an ad authority that “marketers see kids as a cash cow.” We hear about children’s programs based on commercial products, about possible exploitation of kids by advertisers.

“But where to draw the line?” Norville says.

Well, start by drawing it at NBC, whose own campaign to cross-promote its Saturday morning kids programs with the chain of Toys R Us stores this fall is also not mentioned tonight.

The contest-type promotion involves picking up game cards at the toy stores to be used in conjunction with “secret words” spoken each week on a different NBC kids show. Children who return the cards to the store with the correct words will be eligible for a grand prize.

No purchase is necessary to compete, but the purpose is clearly to use the programs themselves to entice kids, along with their parents, into the store to make a purchase.

With this strategy, John Miller, the network’s vice president for marketing, has said, “NBC can reach millions of children who visit the 450 Toys R Us stories nationwide, and Toys R Us can increase store traffic with the increased publicity and promotion.”

So who really gets the grand prize here? NBC and Toys R Us, that’s who. Ice the champagne, this looks like a winner.

Where to draw the line, indeed.