Ireland's First Ever Radio Advertisement Aired A Century Ago

 

‘You, too, listener, can have Archer's Sausages - remember the name – Archer’s Sausages for your breakfast. You can get them from Archer and Son, 12 Talbot Street, Dublin. They are made in a model factory in Dublin. At the same address - 12 Talbot. Street - you can get Irish beef and mutton of the finest quality at lowest city prices.’

 

This advertising message for George Archer’s pork butchers which has a unique place in Irish radio history and has a connection to Sandymount. Listeners to 2RN, the newly inaugurated Dublin radio station, on Wednesday night, April 21^st 1926, had a somewhat novel experience when for the first time in either Great Britain or Ireland, commercial advertisement was broadcast. Advertising was not the snappy ear catching thirty second commercials we hear today on RTE or commercial radio. In those days advertising consisted of short publicity talks or playlets. Archer’s was the very first and while the fledgling station needed finances other than relying on the Government exchequer, reaction to the advert was mixed. The advertisement was broadcast at 10.30pm after a fifteen-minute performance by the station orchestra.

 

George Archer was born about 1873 in England and was the son of Robert Archer, a carpenter.  He moved to Ireland and in 1890 was living at 4 Bath Avenue and working as a butcher’s foreman when he married Emma Kavanagh on 25^th November 1895 at Star of the Sea Church, Sandymount.  Emma lived at 11 Tritonville Road and was the daughter of John Kavanagh, a carpenter.   He worked for H. Williams and Co as a butcher before setting up his own business in 1909 located at 12 Talbot Street.  According to the 1901 census they couple were living in Sandymount before moving northside to live in Clontarf in 1911 and all of their seven children having survived.  George was elected vice president and later president of the Dublin Victuallers Association.  Emma died on 13^th April 1918 at 15 Vernon Avenue.  Her funeral mass was held at John the Baptist church and she was buried at Glasnevin. George died at Roebuck Grove on 19^th  October 1947 and left
39,000 in his personal estate.  He was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery.

The decision on advertising had been taken by the Dublin station on April 12^th. The Irish Independent reported,

It was announced from the Dublin Broadcasting Station last night that arrangements. are being made to set aside five minutes each night for the broadcasting at a small fee of advertisements of Irish products. Sometime ago a hint that such a thing was in contemplation was not received with favour. Listeners-in look to the service to provide entertainment and instruction and it is quite clear that at best it would be a very incomplete and unsatisfactory way for interesting the buying public who desire to see the goods and who wish to get the details in black and white.

 

This showed the fears of the newspapers that the radio service would impact their advertising revenue.

The Irish Independent reported that they were,

‘informed that 2RN (Dublin) will shortly commence broadcasting advertisements of goods manufactured in the Irish Free State, with the joint object local industries and postal revenue. The fee levied for the service to advertisers is £l per minute, and the first firm to sample the innovation was a firm sausage manufacturers.’

The full text of the Archers advertisement was as follows,

 It was a Monday morning. There was a general air of grumpiness about the Murphy household. Father was up in the bathroom wrestling with a new collar and consigning all and sundry laundries to a warmer climate. Mother was down in the kitchen driven nearly to distraction. Only that moment Katie, the maid, had told her that the oatmeal had run out and that there was not a scrap of bacon in the whole house. No porridge and no bacon! And on a Monday morning too. What would Henry say?

Fortunately, there were those sausages that the grocer had induced her to purchase on Saturday. Of course, Henry never did like sausages, but if half the grocer had said about these sausages were true, well things mightn't be so bad. Certainly, they looked nice, so plump and sweet smelling—and the grocer did say that they were the only sausages he himself ever ate.

Soon, a dozen or so round, crisp little sausages were sizzling and spluttering in the pan. Their shiny little skins took on a deeper tinge, their fat little bodies swelled and swelled so you would think any moment they must burst. They curled themselves up as it they revelled in the comforting heat. And they all smelt so delicious—so really appetising. Mrs Murphy began to think that the grocer was right. Certainly, these sausages had a more tempting aroma than any she had ever cooked; and they looked so inviting and so appetising. If only she could induce Henry to try them.

Upstairs, Henry had mastered his collar, but why would that confounded tie persist in slipping round to the wrong place? Katie's diffident knock at the door announcing breakfast made him sniff the air ominously. Sniff. "What was that?" - Sausages! Pooh! Thank goodness they knew better than to offer them to him. "Ah! No porridge—just like women, always leaving things to the last and then forgetting all about them." "Henry" it was Mrs. Murphy who spoke, “I want you to try these sausages; they are Archer's, and the grocer told me he never eats any other himself; he says he has been over Archer's model sausage factory, and now that he knows how these sausages are made and how pure and good they are, he recommends them very strongly."

Mrs. Murphy spoke, rapidly as if seeking to avert the storm that she felt must come. But it never did. Whether it was the very evident delight with which little Jimmy was devouring his share or the tempting aroma of the sausages which she had tactfully placed within easy reach of her husband—which of these things it was that worked the miracle. Mrs. Murphy never knew. All she heard was " Umph! Archer’s, are they?” from her husband, as he cut off and ate with critical deliberation a small piece… For ten minutes not another word was spoken; then when he had finished the fifth, (and last), sausage Henry lay back in his chair, and murmured, "Well, if only all sausages were like those"

‘You, too, listener, can have Archer's Sausages - remember the name – Archer’s Sausages for your breakfast. You can get them from Archer and Son, 12 Talbot Street, Dublin. They are made in a model factory in Dublin. At the same address, - 12 Talbot. Street, - you can get Irish beef and mutton of the finest quality at lowest city prices.’

This very first advertisement was four minutes long and would have cost George Archer £1 or about €85 in today’s terms. Just one thirty second advert on Ireland’s commercial radio station today would set the advertiser back approximately €1,000.  Archer’s advertisement would probably not be a script that could be aired today. It was definitely aimed at those who could afford to listen to the radio and own a wireless set as the family featured could afford to employ a made, it also demonstrated the era of the time where women, especially wives, were almost subservient to the man of the house. It also illustrates the importance in an era before supermarkets of the local butcher and grocer.

The very first commercial, corporate advertisement on Irish radio was broadcast on December 31, 1927. It was for Euthymol toothpaste, and all advertising was to be solely for the use of Irish made and manufactured products.

OUR NEXT POST WILL LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST RUGBY COMMENTARY MADE ON 2RN (RTE) IN 1927