Advertising: The Trial of 2017 A.D.

As the head of a special committee on cost control, Peter Grace, chairman of W.R. Grace, made thousands of recommendations on how to slash the U.S. budget deficit. Since he delivered his report to President Reagan in January 1984, Grace has waged a personal crusade against the Government's spendthrift habits. His company recently hired Movie Director Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) to create a TV commercial that would alert viewers to the horrors of huge deficits. The result is The Deficit Trials, 2017 A.D., a futuristic fantasy that cost about $300,000 to produce. Set in a mammoth courtroom, it shows a twelve-year-old prosecutor trying his elders for saddling his generation with a crushing debt burden.

Grace hoped that the commercial would premiere on network TV following Reagan's State of the Union address. But CBS, NBC and ABC refused, calling the ad too politically charged. Not easily deterred, Grace took his ad to local and cable channels and got a more enthusiastic reception. The Cable News Network and the Independent News Network, along with individual stations in Chicago, New York and Washington, agreed to air Deficit Trials following Reagan's speech.