The Irish Film Institute (IFI) has made a range of vintage Irish ads available to view online as part of The Irish Adverts Project.
With the support of a grant from the Broadcasting Authority, the IFI Irish Film Archive has digitised, restored and preserved a large collection of 35mm film television advertisements made in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.
The ads were made for broadcast on Irish television by a number of well-known Irish advertising agencies including Wilson Hartnell, Birchall, Hunter and Arks, for a wide range of corporations.
The videos include vintage TV spots for big names like Spar, Odlums and HB, as well as brands that have now disappeared from Irish shelves like Valley Ice Cream, which shut down in 1997, and Captain Crisps, with its superhero-style animated campaign from the 1970s.
Drinks ads feature heavily too, such as this Carlsberg ad that uses a variation of the 'probably the best lager in the world' tagline, and a show band-music infused Carling spot.
In a statement on its website, the IFI says, ‘These films may be only seconds long, but taken together they provide a unique window into Irish society and consumer habits over a 3 decade period.
They tell us much about the community they were made for, as well as the era they were made in; reflecting the social mores, standards, dress sense, attitudes to gender, race and so on of the Ireland for which they were created. They are fascinating on many levels and can be enjoyed from a nostalgic, historical, social or cultural perspective.'
© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Jenny Whelan
