Target's worthwhile message eclipsed by the sleaze

By FRANCES GRANT

Lock your knicker drawers and watch the tea-towels. The hidden-camera consumer rights show Target (TV3, 7.30pm) has returned to put the work and moral fibre, not to mention hygiene habits, of the nation's tradesmen to the test.

Last week's opening instalment proved yet again that no matter how much useful information is squeezed into the show's quick-hit, half-hour format, it's the grubby revelations that stick.

Four security alarm installation companies were given the once-over by the concealed cameras.

Did they do a sensible job, comply with safety regulations and how much did they charge?

Only one of the four tradesmen turned out to be the registered sparky required for the job.

Unfortunately, this guy also turned out to be the one with a penchant for rifling through the underwear drawer, wiping his hands and armpits with the kitchen teatowel, then thoughtfully placing the used item back on the rack.

It's a hard choice for the consumer: self-controlled but unqualified guys or creepy competents?

The programme's genial host, Janet Wilson, carefully detailed all the points to check when getting the burglar alarm installed but, of course, the routines in the bedroom and kitchen stayed in the mind long after the technical details were forgotten.

Is a safety isolator switch something that should be part of the security alarm system or a recommended device to protect unwitting customers against the tradesmen's fetishes?

The voyeuristic aspect of the hidden-camera trials has never sat comfortably with Target's aim of being a consumer watchdog, a point made all too well by the satirical Eating Media Lunch's hilarious takeoff of some the show's seedier moments.

There's something almost as tacky about broadcasting guys sniffing underwear, and worse, as there is about actually doing it. It's a bit rich to film people on the sly and then wring hands about inappropriate behaviour.

Still, as last week's episode revealed, tradespeople haven't yet learned the lesson. The programme has been on air long enough, surely, for them to be a little more wary of how they behave in someone else's home.

Elsewhere, Target shows verve and can-do attitude, condensing the serious business of having children into a few minutes' rundown of the main points of pregnancy, from ante-natal classes to the dangers of listeriosis. Fortunately there were no hidden cameras on the bits about morning sickness or pregnancy testing kits.

Target cannot be faulted for the breadth of its subject matter. After the instant guide to childbirth, intrepid reporter Malcolm Law conducted an investigative campaign into the average size of a scoop of chips from takeaway shops.

We were also treated to some rather bad acting straight from the David Brent school of role-play in an instructive sketch about how to contest a will.

The hidden-camera findings were wrapped up with the gen that the house alarm business was investigated on request from the public and electricians concerned about safety - and others undercutting their business, no doubt.

It is indeed sobering to discover the extent of illegal installations that could put homes - and lives - at risk.

But it's a shame this show's worthwhile consumer rights message is so often overshadowed by the sleazy stuff. It can be hard at times to judge just what Target has in its sights.

Consumer rights or anthropological study of the depths to which human behaviour sinks in the privacy of other people's homes?