1981 Christmas shopping

ToneControl

here's  how  expensive stuff was , and how un-PC the TV was

TTony

PC hadn't been invented in 1981.  Nor Health & Safety.

When you look back, it's amazing that the human race survived the 20th century.

Bellycaster

I now have GAS for a Bontempi B226 Electronic Organ thanks to you 

Bygone_Tones

@1.00 matchbox race n chase. That was an awesome toy. 

Emp_Fab

Un-PC ?  Am I missing something ?

As for the prices of the tat - bloody hell !  I can't believe we used to pay that.  £5 for a single posi screwdriver and some screws !!

This must have been before China was gearing up to monopolise global manufacturing.

Edit:  Actually, it's not so much the prices, just look at the shit we had to put up with !  Can you imagine going into a shop today and seeing all that crap on the shelves ? - You'd just walk straight out again.

ftumch

Why un-pc?

EricTheWeary

Ahh the GKN Supascrew. I used to do my day release course with a young man who worked at GKN around this time and and he used to say ( as I recall it) ' I'm Andy, I work at GKN, just call me Supascrew.'

richardhomer

Bellycaster said:

I now have GAS for a Bontempi B226 Electronic Organ thanks to you 

£200! That was a lot of money then - but what price can be placed on being able to say, "I got a new organ for Christmas"?

stickyfiddle

I am disappointed that this thread is not just scans of the argos catalogue.

RandallFlagg

TTony said:

PC hadn't been invented in 1981.  Nor Health & Safety.

When you look back, it's amazing that the human race survived the 20th century.

Health and Safety was invented in 1974 with the passng of the Health and Safety at Work Act which replaced the Victorian Factories Act

Not sure when PC was invented, early 80s I think, around the time when it was deemed acceptable for men to dress as New Romantics

ToneControl

not massively un-PC, just  noticing it was a different world to what we live in now
more stereotypes in the gifts and outfits,
in particular the women dressed  up to look Chinese, doing little nods and things,  

ToneControl

the prices are just crazy though,  those prices were a lot at that  time

Average wage was £7k  - about £28k now
average house £24k        - about £260k now

I got £1 an hour for part time work in 1983, and a cheap handbag in Woolies is reduced to £6 ??

EricTheWeary

 I began my social science degree in 1985 and we definitely had PC by then. Although bits of that ad might get some complaints now it wasn't as un PC as I imagined. The Goodies was shown on ITV in 1981( and 82) having previously been a BBC programme which would explain why they were allowed to do that advert. 

monquixote

I think you could get away with that advert now.

ToneControl

1970s
everyone's in this
Goodies too

ToneControl

monquixote said:

I think you could get away with that advert now.

yes, but it'd be off-trend
I didn't post it to criticise it,  but for nostalgia, just mentioned that it was  different really

ToneControl

Bridgehouse

Do you think Graham Garden objected to the commercialisation and went off in a huff?

ToneControl

EricTheWeary

Quite surprised how many figures familiar from the BBC in those ads, just somewhere in the back of my mind that kind of thing wasn't allowed.

ToneControl said:

1970s
everyone's in this
Goodies too

That tv £109, these things were major purchases. As a kid if I had an action man and a board game at xmas I thought I'd done really well. 

ToneControl

this would be properly un-PC