"You could boil an egg" old advert

ifconfig

Anyone remember what that vintage advert (1980s, I think) that showed various people away from Ireland (possibly a Guinness tv advert) ?
One catch line showed a chap in searing heat in a desert area saying "you could even boil and egg" here.

—Ian

Lumbo

Harp

shopaholic01

Fry an egg, I think. Wasn't that the one with 'Sally O'Brien and the way she might look at you'?

I thought Guinness too.

Jesus Wept

It's our thing.

Silverfish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExTRZxDRYPg

Harp, and 'fry an egg'.

coolmoose

Harp

hairyprincess

If you had an egg

Thundercats Ho

ifconfig wrote: »

Anyone remember what that vintage advert (1980s, I think) that showed various people away from Ireland (possibly a Guinness tv advert) ?
One catch line showed a chap in searing heat in a desert area saying "you could even boil and egg" here.

—Ian

This one comes to mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExTRZxDRYPg

zagmund

Dude, I thought you broke google just there. But it turns out that your memory is faulty and google is still infallible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExTRZxDRYPg

The quote was "You could fry an egg on the stones here . . . . if you had an egg"

z

[edit] I found it before the rest of you, but got distracted watching old telly ads on youtube

Jester252

I'm not allow to cook anymore

im invisible

could you fry an egg?

Hangdogroad

Earlier was listening to a documentary on Lyric FM about the decline of the Curlew (a species of bird) in Ireland and they played a snippit of the Harp Sally O Brien ad, audio only obviously. There was a line in it that went "you won't hear the cry of the Curlew out here"

I remember the tv ad running through the 80s and I dont recall that line about the Curlew. The versions of the tv ad on YouTube are all taken from the 1980 edition of Reeling In The Years and that doesn't have the line. Was there a longer, less commonly screened version?

https://youtu.be/ujyoyhZFh0c?si=IDELuDdKrDW-10Od

Snippit from the ad at 23:34 in link below.

https://www.rte.ie/radio/lyricfm/clips/22380864/

Pauliedragon

This is weird lads. I was in the off license last night and I noticed they can 6 packs of harp. I thought that stuff died out years ago. Does anybody drink it anymore, is it nice?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121990373#Comment_121990373

Nearly all the old Guinness Group ads had an extended cinema version. May be from that.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121990389#Comment_121990389

Never went away; when Diageo lost the Budweiser contract they started pushing it a bit harder as a replacement for those taps in bars - those that hadn't already taken Hophouse or Rockshore anyway.

I don't particularly like lagers but its far, far, far from the worst lager available. Its poor reputation is not justified.

Pauliedragon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121990399#Comment_121990399

Cheers L1011 I'll have to give a go next time I'm in there picking up a few cans. 9.50 for 6x 440ml not bad

The Continental Op

I thought….?

"Harp stays sharp……… to the bottom of the glass"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GlfF2_DXR4

saabsaab

It used be sharp tasting, hard on the belly, I thought but I think they changed the formula way back. Well the slogan was once 'the bite you like'..

Hangdogroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121990445#Comment_121990445

Grew up in RTE only land in the 80s. Never saw those "Stay Sharp" ones, or even knew they existed till seeing them on Youtube. Seemed to have different ad campaigns for Britain and Ireland. We got Sally O Brien and the Vikings.

The Continental Op

Don't remember seeing this one in the UK, was it part of an Irish campaign?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUsygWvMV7A

L1011

Harp in the UK was sold/marketed by a different company (and brewed there under licence) so I don't think there was ever any crossover in ads back then. Totally different campaigns.

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121990768#Comment_121990768

Remember it in Ireland alright. The Barman is John of 'John and Mary' in Fr Ted!

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992023#Comment_121992023

After watching it again you can hear the computer saying "Goodbye Barney enjoy the craic", not something an English audience would have understood.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/79401284#Comment_79401284

Sally was played by Vicky Michelle who also starred as Yvette in Allo Allo

ballyharpat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121990768#Comment_121990768

this was one of my favourite ads back in the day :D

DellyBelly

I was sure that was a Guinness ad…..was there a Sally O'Brien add as well for Guinness pretty certain there was

TheRiverman

Already mentioned here, Vicki Michelle was the actress that played the character Sally O'Brien.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992337#Comment_121992337

No, Sally O'Brien was Harp, and Harp only. 100%. She was a cultural icon of the time.

There was a song out in 1983 called "When ET Met Sally O'Brien", written by Shay Healey. My dad used to listen to some god-awful pirate radio station that played the very worst country music, and that (along with the one about the rooster that raped various other animals) was a staple.

It's not even available on YouTube, let alone any of the streaming services, so unless someone has a copy, it's lost to the mists of time.

From memory (which as we have seen can be flaky), the chorus was:

Oh the universe jumped with excitement

And the stars they all came out to shine

And the lager was flowing like water

When E.T. Met Sally O'Brien.

The Continental Op

Some interesting info on Sally O'Brien advert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X5D-CXDuDo

zell12

Current Canadien egg advert -  "What's Stopping You?" a new English and French campaign that continues the organization's ongoing efforts to shift consumer perception that eggs are a breakfast-only food. The original intent of the "Eggs Anytime" platform was to get Canadians to consider eggs as being suitable for meal occasions other than breakfast, said Natalie Rumscheidt, director of marketing and nutrition with the Egg Farmers of Canada.

https://youtu.be/Xd6gnoQ9siA

Ted222

I don’t know why they bothered advertising. There was no other lager on tap. Up until about 1983 it was only Guinness, smithwicks, harp no matter where you went.

I remember the pub I worked in getting Heineken on tap. We thought we were very sophisticated.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992799#Comment_121992799

Beamish & Crawford were making huge volumes of draught lager from the 60s on, Carling and Carlsberg particularly. Guinness had other lagers themselves - Furstenburg and Satzenbrau