The Hard Sell, Episode Seventy-Three: More groceries

Advertising: the rattling of a stick in a swill-bucket? Welcome to the show where the stick rattles back: The Hard Sell. Adverts from history, treated with the respect they deserve.
This episode: grocery shopping again! From the tiniest Mace to the most colossal Carrefour and actually surprisingly little in between.

[@Larry]

Was that SPAR advert narrated by Prunella Scales? AKA the obsessed Tesco's woman in their adverts? :S But Mac Market has always been a fascination for me for British supermarkets, starting out as a fishmonger to be the Tesco of their day.

[@betaman7988]

I was on holiday this week and was amazed to find a Mace nearby. Had no idea they were still around but all I could think of every time I went past it I thought of that advert... that advert has been running in my head for 7 days straight...

[@TYTDReviews]

Also; not to smear a dead man but I recall hearing a while ago from a couple of people who anecdotally had actually had the pleasure of the Majors company when they visited fineprice...apparently he was terrifically grumpy basically wanted them out of the shop (Even though they were there to buy things) and he was constantly harrassing his staff throughout the entire duration of there visit (Basically mithering them about where things were being stocked in the shop) he seemed like a right laugh; who im sure would have enjoyed realising he was effectively approaching Meme status in the 21st century and wouldnt have been angry, confused scared or a combination of those 3 feelings in the slightest xD

[@GryphLane]

BUY one, get one free... buy ONE, get one free... buy one, GET one free!!

[@frostycola42]

The Tesco is closer then spar were I live also the first UK hypermarket is in my area 17:20 I put 2 slices of bread between the chip steak and called a burger

[@TYTDReviews]

*Strolls in from the advert for this weeks edition* ...Must...buy...one...must...get...one...free...love...consumerism...love...free...shit... One of my friends introduced me to the Benests and millbrook adverts when I was in university....I like to consider there to be two points in my life Before Benests (BB) and After Sale (AS) I would have paid good money to hear him say "LAAAAARGAAAAR 29 pence." in person...

[@knshinn2]

TRY SOME TOMORROW. YOU WILL LOVE THEM

[@JasonC1782]

Thank goodness Morrisons relented with the Benest's name.

[@alneedham9363]

Oh man, where did you get that self-packing advert? Never seen it before.

[@GeoNeilUK]

To be honest, I'd never heard of Mace until you featured them on the TV-AM adverts. Hand drawn lettering on that Spar advert as well. Also, does this mean that defunct store Walter Willson's (known towards the end of their life as Walter's) might be featured? Oh I remember both Happy Shopper and Fine Fare. Or, you'll be impressed in Presto! Carrefour had the slogan "it's what your car's for!" when they were at the MetroCentre. And we also had at the time the Benton Hypermarket which was ran by the North Eastern Co-Op. Here's Tyne Tees' very own Princess Royal of the Continuity booth, Kathy Secker espousing the virtues of said store... kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2nTnp6sf5ycmZo ...I wonder if Asda kept that H? North East Co-Op certainly made a better advert. It really makes me wish Benest's of Millbrook and Fineprice had expanded beyond the Channel Islands... Major Benest reminds me of the early DFS adverts! And on an unrelated note, Doki Doki Literature Club - who's your waifu? Mine's Sayori.

[@davidt-rex2062]

Mace are a massive chain in Northern Ireland

[@Rexowogamer]

We have a Tesco Extra (hypermarket) nearby, it strangely doesn't feel that big although certainly has a wide range of products. Also strange is its location; the middle of the town, right next to the high street no less! On a different note, I wonder who used to run the Co-op in the London area. I've seen a Southern one nearby but the closest store is a Co-op Group owned one.

[@RW-nr6bh]

The Hanley and Longton Tesco Extras are both on the periphery of their respective town centres.

[@josiea5musings]

I peeped the Thriller album there 😁😁

[@9thfloorchaos]

Has there been any major advertising campaigns from years gone by for the Aldi/Lidl style of bare-bones supermarket shopping imported from the Continent? They're starting to make headway in certain areas of the US now, but nobody in my family seems to care for them very much

[@centrevezgaming4862]

Voice over guy repeating buy one get one free over and over he sounds like he’s in an possessed cult chanting yes we do not need to bogof so many times when its clear on advertisement boards and things like this can get annoying very quickly.