Sense of Sadness in Irish 1980's TV Ads

ClovenHoof

Was looking at old TV ads from RTE in 80's and early 90's and there is such a depressing undercurrent and melancholy feel about them all. They make you want to see moving statues just as a distraction from them.

I am not saying the ads on TV are better now, but there was a distinct sensation of cultural and social despondency in Ireland back then which comes across in the sleepy depressing nature of these ads.

Emotionally, they can be summed up thus: "This is our new product. You could buy it, but you probably don't deserve it and we don't deserve to make a profit from it either..."

Venus In Furs

Maurice Pratt yellow-pack Quinnsworth ads were pretty chirpy?

Cathy.C

No idea what you're talking about...



































You could fry an egg on the stones here.. if you had an egg.

Venus In Furs

The public info ones were bleak as fuq.

tom_k

Well this is a Maurice Pratt Quinnsworth one from 1982. I remember watching it and thinking "That's brilliant, he has Darth Vader doin' ads for him."

Prices seem high enough though for 30+ years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38NVJKc8NlQ

Honey Monster

To be fair a lot of things in 1980's Ireland were very bleak.

newmug

Sometimes I wish I had a time machine. I'd live through the 80's all over again

Cathy.C

Honey Monster wrote: »

To be fair a lot of things in 1980's Ireland were very bleak.

Not just in Ireland. The UK also. Anyone remember Boys From The Blackstuff?

I remember watching that when my parents went out with my older brothers. Made Glenroe look like it was made in utopia.

Venus In Furs wrote: »

The public info ones were bleak as fuq.

Yes. I remember this one quite vividly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP5u5q6Ecdk

The Backwards Man

As an 80s kid I dreamed of smoking Hamlet cigars, drinking Harp and Shake'n'Vacing Bisto out of the carpet.

Modern ads don't inspire the kids like the old ones.

_Whimsical_

Ah there were some cheery ones too. Who could forget such classics as "50 50 cash back,50 50 cash back it's half price gas, it's half price gas". Or the chipper family from the Flavins porridge ad who all went running in the morning before school in identical tracksuits, not mum of course, there was cooking to be done, but all the rest of them. And then there was the Kiora ad "I'll be your dawg".
Actually I'm amazed we dished up as much cheerful earworm jingles as we did given what a bleak hole that the place was.

Packrat

I grew up in the 80s, and I didn't find it a bit bleak - apart from footing wet turf on top of a hill, or being made go for the cows JUST when the Fallguy was about to start :mad:

tom_k

Here's a selection from 1988, if you skip to about 3.12 you'll be informed that you can collect tokens for a blank VHS cassette. I remember when these were coveted items that aroused jealousy in households that didn't own a VCR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CFhTuSgdtI

Wailin

I know it's about depressing Irish ads but I loved this one as a kid in the 80's!

RayM

The tone of a lot of ads back then was very dark and foreboding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7NpZ_zbdD0

The "Worm drench for cattle and sheep" one is particularly dramatic.

Ruu

Who's taking the horse to France?!?!

Safety ads were a bit dark, ones on UK telly as well.

Packrat

RayM wrote: »

The tone of a lot of ads back then was very dark and foreboding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7NpZ_zbdD0

The "Worm drench for cattle and sheep" one is particularly dramatic.

Most especially considering it was the most useless sh1t ever sold.

MiskyBoyy

Jeeze, I see Sensodyne was flat out advertising back then too! and good ole Esso. They used to have tiger vouchers or something like that in the 90s, always wanted the toy Esso truck

ballsymchugh

The Backwards Man wrote: »

As an 80s kid I dreamed of smoking Hamlet cigars, drinking Harp and Shake'n'Vacing Bisto out of the carpet.

Modern ads don't inspire the kids like the old ones.

that lad made a fine job polishing up that rolls royce.

"how's the car?"

'fine. coming on fine'



fade out sax...

RayM

Packrat wrote: »

Most especially considering it was the most useless sh1t ever sold.

I've never tried it. I prefer to take my chances.

wingnut

Don't forgot Bonzo, mild mannered Dog by day, 'killer' by night:

newmug

I often wonder if the suicide rate in young people nowadays had anything to do with growing up in the 80's. There is absolutely no doubt that they were far, far bleaker times. There was always an air of foreboding, that you were one step away from something bad happening.


The recession back then was different from the one now. Now, its all about debt. In the 80's, debt wasn't so much the problem, it was not having anything, no money, no food, no future. As you can see from the ads above, a blank VHS video tape was something to be sought after! Hard to imagine this was only 25 - 30 years ago.


Even the music of the times had this negativity attached to it. "Living on a prayer" is the perfect example. There always seemed to be more old people around, and hence more funerals. Emigration was emptying the countryside like something out of an apocalyptic film, and the IRA were blowing something up every other day. The threat of Nuclear war was a reality people just had to live with. There were people in Africa in our sitting rooms every night, expiring in front of our eyes, due to 8 or 10 weeks of a food shortage. It was dire. The helplessness, the horror. The sense of not knowing where this was going to all end.






I think the adults of the 80's, our parents, young as they were, had surrendered. They had given up. They knew that there was no hope their potential would ever be realised, and they knew they couldn't do a thing about it - about ANYTHING. And so they pinned their hopes, and therefore the responsibility of living up to your potential AND theirs, on their kids - us.


Now, as 30-ish year old adults, we are in another mess. Granted, a different mess, but still just as pressure-filled. Add to that the hangover from 10 years of Celtic Tiger drinking, the suddenness of the lifestyle change we have had to make, and the sobering fact that when your parents were this age, they had been married for 8 years with 2 kids and had the house already paid off. Makes you feel pretty inadequate. And to completely ruin things, you have disappointed your family. You have let them down by not being the success they had hoped for.


I often wonder, given this cocktail of exposure to the 80's bleakness, and general feelings of life failure, could that be contributing to the amount of suicide's in Irish 25 - 35 year olds?

Highflyer13

RayM wrote: »

The tone of a lot of ads back then was very dark and foreboding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7NpZ_zbdD0

The "Worm drench for cattle and sheep" one is particularly dramatic.

Ah the Toyota Carina 2 at 2.47. The auld fella bought one when I was nipper. What a beast. Pure solid, he had it for years.

newmug

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


How do you embed?

Tony EH

tom_k wrote: »

Well this is a Maurice Pratt Quinnsworth one from 1982. I remember watching it and thinking "That's brilliant, he has Darth Vader doin' ads for him."

Prices seem high enough though for 30+ years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38NVJKc8NlQ

"Hiya Dart!"


FFS.

:pac:

Tony EH

The Backwards Man wrote: »

As an 80s kid I dreamed of smoking Hamlet cigars, drinking Harp and Shake'n'Vacing Bisto out of the carpet.

And Sally O'Brien and the way she might look at ya.



The durty auld minx...

tom_k

Highflyer13 wrote: »

Ah the Toyota Carina 2 at 2.47. The auld fella bought one when I was nipper. What a beast. Pure solid, he had it for years.

And as the advert suggests, admired by all those on the top rungs of 1980s society, Guards, clergy and er... people on tandems!!??!!

bodhrandude

newmug wrote: »

How do you embed?

When re-editing your post, click for the 'Go Advanced' option and click youtube tab at the top, copy your video url into the box but remove the stuff in the brackets including the brackets themselves and post, you should have an embedded video hopefully.

porsche959

Farmers! Get mastititis before it gets you!

All these years later and I still don't know what mastitis is.

MiskyBoyy

porsche959 wrote: »

Farmers! Get mastititis before it gets you!

All these years later and I still don't know what mastitis is.

...and neither did I until I just googled it thanks to you....

"Mastitis is an infection of the breast tissue that results in breast pain, swelling, warmth and redness of the breast. If you have mastitis, you might also experience fever and chills. Mastitis most commonly affects women who are breast-feeding (lactation mastitis), although sometimes this condition can occur in women who aren't breast-feeding."

bodhrandude

obplayer

Cathy.C wrote: »

Not just in Ireland. The UK also. Anyone remember Boys From The Blackstuff?

I remember watching that when my parents went out with my older brothers. Made Glenroe look like it was made in utopia.



Yes. I remember this one quite vividly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP5u5q6Ecdk

Tried watching it again recently for memories sake. Gave up quickly.

handbagmad

obplayer wrote: »

Tried watching it again recently for memories sake. Gave up quickly.

im traumatized after watching that!!!
Rough

obplayer

handbagmad wrote: »

im traumatized after watching that!!!
Rough

Sorry, actually meant watching Boys From The Blackstuff:pac:
However I do have a scar on my hip acquired when I was ten from a hot clothes iron:mad:

obplayer

Just checked in to You Tube and this popped up.

Ruu

Apaches is the name of a full feature public information film about farm dangers. It is on YouTube, terrifying stuff.

Phoebas

At least we all knew exactly how to deal with sarcoptic mange mites.

tom_k

Phoebas wrote: »

At least we all knew exactly how to deal with sarcoptic mange mites.

And warbles.

anncoates

ClovenHoof wrote: »

Was looking at old TV ads from RTE in 80's and early 90's and there is such a depressing undercurrent and melancholy feel about them all.

It's just the shit cameras.

pragmatic1

newmug wrote: »

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


How do you embed?

Yes times a million. That is the most depressing ****ing advert of all time.

Grand Moff Tarkin

John did you put the cat out?

Anyone???

mrsdewinter

'But, sure, wouldn't you *die* if anything happened to them!'

Ad aimed at people who packed their children off to bed wrapped up in flammable plastic bags, or something.

Pumpkinseeds

Grand Moff Tarkin wrote: »

John did you put the cat out?

Anyone???

I'd put her and John out and keep the cat in.:D

Duck's hoop

newmug wrote: »

I often wonder if the suicide rate in young people nowadays had anything to do with growing up in the 80's. There is absolutely no doubt that they were far, far bleaker times. There was always an air of foreboding, that you were one step away from something bad happening.


I often wonder, given this cocktail of exposure to the 80's bleakness, and general feelings of life failure, could that be contributing to the amount of suicide's in Irish 25 - 35 year olds?

If yer 30 now you were 5 in 1990. Apart from not really knowing or understanding fcuk all outside of sweets and cartoons, things were starting to look up around then.

I was a teenager in the 1980s and I loved it. Great music, less stringent 'nanny state', bit more of a wild streak in the youthi think. Devil may care, nothing to lose kinda thing.

Kids have all the **** in the world at the click of a button these days but I honestly am really glad I grew up during that time.

It was more conservative for sure, and to plough your own furrow often led to unwanted attention etc, but the shìt we got up to, and away with, was brilliant.

Also pubs never closed and you could get as much drink as you wanted at 15 no questions asked. Apart from the clothes and the hair it was class.

Tony EH

Where's Grandad...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjWHrjCG1LQ

tom_k

Tony EH wrote: »

Where's Grandad...

That water safety one was fairly hard hitting even when watching it as a child.

Kerrydude1981

Remember lads dont put your dog out at night,he will murder all the sheep in the area

whisky_galore

tom_k wrote: »

That water safety one was fairly hard hitting even when watching it as a child.

It worked. You stayed the fcuk away from river banks, didn't you?

whisky_galore

The Kia-Ora and Lyons Tea ads, good old fashioned 1980's racism.

Tony EH

tom_k wrote: »

That water safety one was fairly hard hitting even when watching it as a child.

whisky_galore wrote: »

It worked. You stayed the fcuk away from river banks, didn't you?

And barrels full of water.

When I think of the awful end that death would promise...

*shudder*

Firefox11

Or when Aer Lingus were tring to charge you 300 pounds + for the privilege to flying to London!

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

SEPT 23 1989

more scary than sad for a child watching tv in the 80's