The Hard Sell

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  • Опубліковано 26 лис 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 61

  • @StuartVallantine
    @StuartVallantine Рік тому +8

    The voiceover artiste in the PYE Tube Cube advert is Pete Baker, then of Piccadilly Radio. Back in 1983, he presented the radio station's 261 AM breakfast show - aired at about the same time as TV-am.
    Also, another ex-Piccadilly Radio voice in John Mundy in the Allied Carpets advert. Apart from BBC Northwest Tonight and a mid-1980s Lo-Cost advert, he is now known as The Voice of LBC's spoken idents saying "Leading Britain's Conversation" before James O'Brien/Nick Ferrari/David Lammy and the like.

  • @snathe
    @snathe Рік тому +7

    Congratulations on 200 episodes, and here's to many more!
    (also, I was expecting the "message to all motorists" to be something about the seatbelt law which had come into effect the day before)

  • @PaulioBee
    @PaulioBee Рік тому +7

    At 19:03, this advert appears to be a hastily-prepared attempt by Sainsbury's to bypass the Equity dispute, with some top-level scabbery on display. 😂

  • @MrGluben
    @MrGluben 10 місяців тому +6

    Here's an article from the Greenford & Northolt Gazette (Friday 11 February 1983): "Walls' sizzling new advertising campaign is all a bit embarrassing for the company's chief sausage seller. The company, which employs around 1000 people at its Southall factory, had the distinction of filling the first advertising slot on TV-am, the new breakfast station launched last week. But because of a dispute between advertisers and Equity, the actors' union, the advert had to be made without actors. This meant the voice of Ian Melrose, Walls' marketing and sales director, was used instead. A company spokesman informed me that Mr Melrose was rather reluctant to take part in the advert. He said: "Ian was not happy about it - he was embarrassed.""

    • @applemask
      @applemask 10 місяців тому +1

      You can tell. He does a decent job, though, all things considered.

  • @TheSmart-CasualGamer
    @TheSmart-CasualGamer Рік тому +7

    And this has to come 35 minutes before I have a seminar. Happy 200th you brilliant CGI nutter, a great theme for episode 200.
    EDITS: Firstly, if this show is nearing ten years old, this means that it's lasted for a longer period than TV-AM.
    Secondly, Edam is just Jarlsberg for the unimaginative.

  • @KirkNorthrop
    @KirkNorthrop Рік тому +7

    I am almost disappointed that they didn't come up with anything better than "Goodness gracious great ball of cheese"

    • @TheSmart-CasualGamer
      @TheSmart-CasualGamer Рік тому +2

      The other lines of the song don't even flow into it that well! At least Great Balls of Fire has flow!

  • @j0hnf_uk
    @j0hnf_uk 11 місяців тому +1

    Augustus Barnett. Now, that's a name I've not heard for at least 30 years. A chain of off-licences that I remember going passed on the nearby main road, but have no recollection of actually frequenting, largely because I wasn't quite of age to actually buy anything within, from memory. I may possibly have done so once I had reached the golden age of 18, but there's every likelihood they would have gone bust by then and the premise taken over by an independent company called, 'small beer', who I do recall frequenting into the 90's and beyond. Ah, fond memories.
    The lady advertising non-descript Sainsbury's de-coffee-inated, 'coffee', at 19:04 is Jenny Hanley, who was probably best known on TV through the 70's as a presenter on Magpie, ITV's alternative magazine show for older children, to the BBC's Blue Peter.

  • @GryphLane
    @GryphLane Рік тому +3

    I appreciated the return of The Resurrection Men at the end 😁

  • @fraserkatie
    @fraserkatie 10 місяців тому +1

    Haha loving the sarcasm! 😂😂😂 Never saw the first day TV Am like this before and the way you roast this is so funny

  • @TServo2049
    @TServo2049 Рік тому +5

    I bet the obscured text at the end of the Alpen porridge advert is “Cook our porridge tomorrow and see *what Alpens.*” So it was probably just a rehash of the same pun at the beginning.

    • @MrGluben
      @MrGluben Рік тому +2

      Yes, or "what''s Alpening."

  • @MrGluben
    @MrGluben Рік тому +3

    Delayed reply but I found that after Gibbs SR toothpaste, the 2nd ad ever shown on UK TV on 22nd September 1955 was for Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate, and Gibbs & Cadbury's was the first complete break. Some books say the 3rd ad ever shown was for Kraft Cheese, others say Summer County margarine.
    After that, the rest of the first 10 ads (from 4 to 10) were for Dunlop tyres, Woman magazine, Surf washing powder, National Benzole petrol, Lux soap, Ford cars and Guinness.
    And then the rest of the 24 ads on that opening night came from Batchelor's peas, Brillo, Crosse and Blackwell, Esso, Remington Rand, Shredded Wheat, Watney's, Coty, Brown and Polson Custard, Express Dairy Co., Crompton Lamps, E. K. Cole (Ekco radio and television sets) and Oxo. The Remington razor one was the first animated ad ever shown.

    • @9thfloorchaos
      @9thfloorchaos Рік тому

      Does the footage for any of those other ads exist anywhere else on the Internet?

    • @MrGluben
      @MrGluben Рік тому +1

      @@9thfloorchaos Guinness has been covered in a previous Hard Sell (the one with the sealion). No idea about the rest though. I did find a Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate ad but the year doesn't match.

    • @Sheffield_Steve
      @Sheffield_Steve 11 місяців тому +1

      There were opening night ads from Persil & Babycham too. (I'm not THAT old, I got it from the BBC 1990 documentary "Washes Whiter").

    • @MrGluben
      @MrGluben 11 місяців тому

      @@Sheffield_Steve Ah, I have that programme somewhere! I’ll take a look.

    • @MrGluben
      @MrGluben 10 місяців тому

      Finally got round to looking and you're right. Also, Ford's opening night ad is featured in episode 5, but I didn't see any others.

  • @MrGluben
    @MrGluben Рік тому +2

    "We've shown what can be achieved in sales of frozen meat products with our range of frozen sausages and pies over the past two years." said Ian Melrose in 1983. You certainly did Ian, well done there.

  • @Sheffield_Steve
    @Sheffield_Steve 11 місяців тому +1

    One thing the "Buy a newspaper" ad didn't think about, commuters could've carried a pocket TV around or possibly a PYE cube on a car battery maybe? 🤭🤣

  • @simarriott524
    @simarriott524 Рік тому +1

    Hehe, “support your local butchers…. Have I mentioned that?”

  • @nukathecat4319
    @nukathecat4319 Рік тому +3

    Another great video 👍

  • @martinfenton1275
    @martinfenton1275 9 місяців тому

    I insisted on getting up at stupid o’clock in the morning so I could experience this piece of television history live. By 7am, TV-am had been declared a waste of time and we returned to our usual routine of Radio 1.

  • @mikeauld7971
    @mikeauld7971 Рік тому +2

    Stupidly only realised 40 years later that Edam and New Zealand Lamb ads were easy to get round Equity because they could be filmed abroad with foreign non-equity members and singers. The Dutch have very good spoken English. Quite why the Danish didn’t for the bacon and butter eludes me!

  • @centrevezgaming4862
    @centrevezgaming4862 11 місяців тому +1

    At 1:32 that glitter on hairspray tune sounds like the same jingle to fast forward magazine advertising probably by the same artist and backing vocalist

  • @imrustyokay
    @imrustyokay Рік тому +4

    One of those episodes where part of it has become relevant as it comes out, considering the SAG-AFTRA dispute is still going on as this is uploaded. Anyway, Happy 200!

  • @9thfloorchaos
    @9thfloorchaos Рік тому +6

    Sadly, the Internet has failed to come up with any alternative to the sole stranglehold newspapers have on the likes of Page 3.

  • @whatamalike
    @whatamalike Рік тому +1

    Yey pye tubesy cubesy :3
    Happy 200th episode!

  • @BigRedJed
    @BigRedJed Рік тому +2

    Great effort! I really enjoy your content.

  • @timg5tm941
    @timg5tm941 Рік тому

    Congratulations on 200 and thank you

  • @Richpeo
    @Richpeo Рік тому +2

    Saw a PYE Tube Cube on eBay, its TV is black and white and the cassette player function was bust, which made it a hard pass from me.

  • @centrevezgaming4862
    @centrevezgaming4862 11 місяців тому

    You could tell that Anna was relishing the day that TV-AM ended whilst presenting the 6 pm news .

  • @edwardburek1717
    @edwardburek1717 Рік тому +1

    Seven days late for my view, I needed to psyche myself accordingly. Anyway, from the people that gave you Things We Learned This Week, here is my take:
    - WALL'S SAUSAGES: And the dark charisma of Ian Melrose. Or is that dark anti-charisma? And am I right in thinking that these sausage merchants also are responsible for all those lovely ice cream desserts?
    - PYE TUBE CUBE: As Stuart Vallantine correctly notes, Pete Baker extolling the virtues of this obscure piece. And I still want one. Preferably with that Raspberry PI add-on for teletext.
    - IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL MOTORISTS: Wait for it...
    - MACE: I was going to say, as ubiquitous then as Aldi or Lidl is now, only the fruit is fresher. At Mace.
    - SAINSBURY'S: Honestly, who drinks decaff coffee first thing in the morning? WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT OF THAT!!!!
    - ALBERTO JOJOBA: Sounds more like a crooner from Buenos Aires than a shampoo. No wonder Sir Billy Connolly made this a virtual hour-long stand-up set.
    - AUDI 100: Of course, if you drove the diesel version, all that fuel supposedly saved by having a low drag co-efficient will be offset by Audi actually LYING about the fuel output of the engine.
    - THE GUARDIAN: The late great George Melly, everyone.
    - AA AUTOQUOTE: Because the dismembered voice of Patrick Allen compels thee!!
    - VICHY: Not that I need any of that otherwise wonderful cosmetic application, albeit tainted by the whiff of collaboration, because I prefer FUCKING COFFEE!!!!!
    - ALPEN PORRIDGE: Whuh?? Alpen made porridge? That made about as much sense as having sausages with ice cream.
    - DANISH BACON/LURPAK: As we all know, Danish produce is as ubiquitous to the early morning rituals as stepping on a Lego brick first thing in the morning.
    - EGGS: Barbara Woodhouse giving it some gusto
    - TEFAL: With that witty comeback at the end of the Thick & Thin toaster advert, Kevin justifies his nickname of "the silent assassin".
    - THE NEWSPAPER COUNCIL (is there such a thing?): That wouldn't have happened to Michael Lew Lewis if he had gone with a Pye Tube Cube...
    - RUMBELOWS: A chance to win a portable TV, courtesy of those Frank Dickens offshoots.
    - AUGUSTUS BARNETT: Never knew they existed. And never will.
    - MAXWELL HOUSE: John Alderton and Pauline Collins giving us a masterclass in Portuglish.
    - ALLIED CARPETS: For those early risers who can't be arsed to clean the floor (ahem)...
    - EDAM: Not even a Jerry Lee Lewis pastiche will persuade me to acquire so much as a slice of that stuff.
    - MOFFATT GAS: Two words - Flavel Festival, losers.
    In conclusion, it must be said that TV-am were given a bum hand throughout their life time, from when they had their milk and papers stopped through lack of payment, right up to the booking of guests - whether they be human or canine. I'm reminded of the tale told by Carlton Kirby - now Eurosport's chief cycling commentator, but a TV-am floor manager at the time - when he was instructed to fetch over the star of Digby The Biggest Dog In The World for a studio piece, only to find out when reaching the hotel that said hound had died during the night.
    And on that uplifting message - happy 200, and on to the next 200.

    • @applemask
      @applemask Рік тому

      Meat Wall's and Ice Cream Heartbrand Wall's share an origin (hence having practically the same logo) but are separate companies. Even back then when they were both owned by Lever Brothers, they were run as separate businesses. The meat version is now run by Kerry Foods.
      Also, it's apparently called the "Newspaper Publishers Association".

  • @ethanh493
    @ethanh493 Рік тому +2

    Goodbye, next few hours of my life.
    200 episodes! When is the inevitable clip show coming then? 😂

  • @MarkPentler
    @MarkPentler Рік тому +1

    I want to put a Raspberry Pi in a PYE Tube Cube so badly. Do they do teletext? The RPi can do teletext

  • @eilidhmm
    @eilidhmm Рік тому +1

    Me and the other two people watching with me yelled out loud at the JKR joke, good work.

  • @rosiejosie2
    @rosiejosie2 Рік тому

    Happy 200th🎉🎉

  • @stephenpalcso42
    @stephenpalcso42 9 місяців тому

    I always presumed that Vichy face cream was supposed to make you think of the mineral water from said spa town.

  • @jporritt
    @jporritt Рік тому

    Considering that independent television could only exist based on advertising revenue, it's amazing to see their earning machine in such disarray.

  • @knshinn2
    @knshinn2 Рік тому

    200 not out. You beaut! Here's to the next 200...

  • @Sheffield_Steve
    @Sheffield_Steve Рік тому +2

    I'm guessing the Mace Store brand & its produce wouldn't sell in America? 🤔🤭
    I don't think there would be much call for Mace Baked Beans for example. 😉

  • @centrevezgaming4862
    @centrevezgaming4862 Рік тому

    I love this long form videos please do more and an retrospective of the scotch videotapes adverts with Archie the skeleton

  • @Mentski
    @Mentski Рік тому +3

    Isn't the lady in the Sainsbury's ad Magpie's very own Jenny Hanley? Was she scabbing?

    • @alneedham9363
      @alneedham9363 Рік тому +1

      Scabpie

    • @applemask
      @applemask Рік тому +4

      Ah, might very well be, yes. If she is scabbing it's hardly a surprise since her brother was Chairman of the Conservative Party.

    • @Mentski
      @Mentski Рік тому

      @@applemask Oh, Sweet Jesus, he was, wasn't he? Very much the case of "I'm alright, mate".

  • @alneedham9363
    @alneedham9363 Рік тому +2

    I swear blind that Kevin and his wife were interviewed - in character - on TV-am soon after this. Anyone else remember that, or did I imagine it?

    • @applemask
      @applemask Рік тому +5

      I wouldn't be surprised, they'd have had fuck-all else to put on.

  • @GryphLane
    @GryphLane 6 місяців тому

    The World of Melanie Parker strikes me vaguely as a sponsored, third rate The Archers simulacrum broadcast on ILR, only they missed by parsecs

  • @matthewpayton
    @matthewpayton Рік тому

    200 eps verry good.

  • @foz775
    @foz775 10 місяців тому

    I'm sure that was Barbara Woodhouse in the egg advert, and she was quite a famous, er, dog lady? back in the day

  • @puddock6336
    @puddock6336 Рік тому

    Edam is NOT as versatile as any advert can make it. I say this as someone who's been eating it his whole life.

    • @applemask
      @applemask Рік тому +1

      By versatile they just mean bland. Goes with anything because it's too dull to clash with anything.

    • @puddock6336
      @puddock6336 Рік тому +1

      Apologies that cheese is the big thing in your comments. I'm interested in finding the first break from Inside Edition. The American tabloid show fronted by David Frost for three weeks before Bill O Riley took over. (and we thought yelling "do it live" between segments too light for The One Show was going to be the worst thing Bill would ever do to society)