Irish "Cook Electric" ad 1982 (Classic)

[MrX]

Just thought you might be interested in this.
Back in the 1970s and 80s the two power companies in Ireland ESB (Republic of Ireland) and NIE (Northern Ireland Electricity) ran generic ads to promote electric cooking, electric heating and electric showers. They were really weirdly generic and didn't push any brand. Their aim was to sell more power and to steal customers from "The Gas Company".

This ad's so bad it's worthy of a Simpsons episode!

 

[MrX]

ESB and NIE did participate in a common brand 'ShopElectric" which was used by the old power companies in the UK too. So, it's quite possibly an adapted ad that was tweaked for use in Ireland. Although, most of the ones used here were unique.

 

[dj-gabriele]

Hahahahahaha! That's so weird! I can't belive they really pushed people on using electricity for things that would normally employ gas!
Hahahaha, not really a "green" mind
You're right, it's worth a Simpsons episode! Also the catchy song...cook electric... hahaha, sooo trashy!

 

[MrX]

It clearly worked, it's quite rare to find a gas cooker here these days even though gas is very dominant for central heating systems.

 

[maytagbear]

That HAIR!

That is some FRIGHTENING 80s hair on that last woman!

(I am at the public library on a high speed connection)

Said it before, say it again..I like an electric oven, but despise, hate, loathe, abhor an electric cooktop(hob).

I remember a PRINT ad in the Sunday Times Supplement (oh how I love the Sunday Times) for "Dishwash Electric" around the same time.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[MrX]

The only type of electric hob (cook top) I like is induction. It's just as responsive, if not more so, than gas. It's also extremely efficient.

Halogen and other ceramic hobs can be just about OK

Old style open rings aren't too bad either

But, I have no idea why ANYONE would use a solid hob - they're just impossible to cook on as they retain heat for so long. I've never understood why anyone would even purchase such a device.

 

[maytagbear]

Solid hobs

were briefly in fashion here in the 80s, they were billed as the "european" thing, and were considered to be chic.

They would be good, I guess, for simmering, but hell for something like sauteing.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[MrX]

There were no solid hobs in that one

I notice that 1982 ad had no solid hobs at all. They were all either standard open ring type elements or ceramic hobs.

 

[toggleswitch]

So who would you rather date?

If most gas cookers in the UK had that visible/exposed fountain of flame in the oven compartment in them, I can see why electric cooking was sought-after!

Studies that came out of the UK logn aog have shown that children who grow up in homes with gas cooking have twice the respiratory ailments that childens who grow up in electrically cooking homes do.

Electric cooking is cleaner, cooler, faster and safer.
Gas cooking is more responsive, visual, intutive, "natural" cheap and easy.

 

[MrX]

Here's a later one -

This ad's from the UK, for both "Cook Electric" and "Heat Electric"

Done by the same people who did Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run

 

[tlee618]

That was really cute, thanks for sharing it.

 

[MrX]

Love the last bit!

The cat's brilliant - "when you come home after being out dancin' all night"

 

[ecoclean]

Ahh, the memories......

..although just how the nice oriental lady could stand there and say 'so clean, so nice' when she should have added 'so damned slow too'....cooking with a wok over an electric hob is tedious, takes forever, and probably the least efficient way to do so!!

As for the cat talking about 'heat electric', it was obviously referring to the electric storage heaters in the background, which are actually totally unsuited to our changeable, temperate climate. Many was the evening spent in rented accomodation sitting on one of those damned things trying to get warm, and many was the window that had to be opened the next day to relieve the uncontrollable temperatures radiating from one of those things as it was about to go Supernova!!

 

[MrX]

Unless you do it with an induction hob