How was the British Pork advert received at the time?
Posted by Professional-Test239@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 33 comments
The weirdly sinister pork advert from the 80s has gone viral again because of the SNL UK sketch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0wDjWOnHcY
I'm old enough to remember adverts in the 1980s although I don't remember this one. My understanding is that the advert would have been received totally straight at the time and it is only with todays eyes do we see the weird tone. But I've read someone say the sinister tone was meant to be apparent at the time to make the advert memorable.
Would a viewer in 1984 have thought there was anything odd about this advert?
(Also, could somebody please commission a 3,000 word piece of longform journalism about the making of this advert?).
ResplendentBear@reddit
It's just a naff 80s advert. If you remember the 80s this wasn't that weird.
Anyone saying it's deliberately sinister is trying to be edgy, or wasn't even born then, or both.
ResplendentBear@reddit
Viewed through the lens of 2026 it's definitely weird enough to make a sketch about. Not disagreeing with that at all. With today's eye the guy comes across as some insane, pork-obsessed psychopath, who has probably kidnapped those people.
If you think this is bad though, you haven't seen the government safety adverts of the time. They were horrrific.
Street-Frame1575@reddit
"Don't boil a kettle on a boat!" 🤣
Professional-Test239@reddit (OP)
This is what I think too. I'm old enough to have been around at the time (although I don't remember this advert) and I don't think I'd have batted an eyelid.
escapingfromelba@reddit
Can't see how that's sinister, it's just the frugal Yorkshireman trope.
WastedYouth39@reddit
Got a-bit of league of gentleman about it, but not really sinister
bife_de_lomo@reddit
Local pork for local folk
Martipar@reddit
The guy comes acrossas the sort of person who will berat his family if they don't agree with what he is saying.
escapingfromelba@reddit
Sounds like projection to me.
ResplendentBear@reddit
Viewed through a 2026 lens, possibly. Not at the time.
Alarmed-Syllabub8054@reddit
Frugal, dour, plain speaking.
This was before Emmerdale's late 80s sexing up. Yorkshire to the rest of us was epitomised by the likes of Annie Sugden and Amos Brierly.
Martipar@reddit
I hope Stuart Millard gets his recogniotn.
RetroRegretso@reddit
He's brilliant. 'Piss, piss from a willy'!
flexo_24@reddit
Got what it takes, my wife
AlarmedAlarm626@reddit
She’s got plenty..
CLWggg@reddit
And he gets plenty
badz21@reddit
They all get plenty. Got friends round.
Evening-Tomatillo-47@reddit
Friends got plenty. Car keys int' fruit bowl
DrZonino2022@reddit
pigmen rub themselves
DameKumquat@reddit
I don't recall that one. but it looks like a totally plausible ad. Shortly after, there was the one with the annoying jingle, "You can LEAN on British Pork", with, yes, a row of cheerful people leaning sideways.
It would have been taken as a straight-talking Northerner stating the obvious.
n1keym1key@reddit
I remember it and it was just an advert. No dram, no public outcry, no celebrations, nothing. No internet full of wierdos to get upset at it lol
Anglo-Euro-0891@reddit
Just played the link. Perfectly normal advert for the time, featuring the British 1980s ad agency version of a perfectly, normal, average family.
Old enough to have watched it at the time. If there was anything suspect about (which there isn't), I definitely would have remembered.
oscarx-ray@reddit
That was positively delightful compared to the Blade Runner anti-smoking ad.
https://youtu.be/02trmrEEL0g?si=9pxtvXKivBTkdiWe
BALLCLASH@reddit
used to kick and scream the place down whenever this came on.because I thought the man in the advert was going to come through the tv and force pork down my gob hold my family hostage and pour gravy into their throats steaming he was very scarey and serioous about the pork and i dont like to talk about wat it is happened a lot of this actually happened to familys back in the days this man is public enemy number one sincethen
Professional-Test239@reddit (OP)
Do you remember watching it at the time? Did it stand out as odd or weird? Or is that just hindsight?
snavej1@reddit
Rhymes with 'flow cake'.
Fancy-Licker-66UK@reddit
Something from 80’s for the world today to jump on as usual!!🏴😎
LuxxLeanna@reddit
a lot of 80s adverts had that slightly weird unsettling vibe because companies wanted people to remember them and back then viewers were probably way more used to random creepy telly moments than we are now
L-0-T-H-0-S@reddit
That is absolute, total nonsense.
AirlineSevere7456@reddit
I remember that advert. Typical of the meat and dairy "boards" to do similar.
supergodmasterforce@reddit
That video is like a ransom demand
MysteriousB@reddit
I don't think it was intentionally sinister, it reminds of the Kubrik stare which could have been an influence or TV PSAs from the time.
I think the silence + non reaction from the family means it was to grab your attention and the staring made you remember or keep paying attention as it is not a usual way of advertising.
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