Mr Therm was the mascot of the Gas Light and Coke Company, and the national mascot of the United Kingdom's gas industry from 1931. He took the form of an anthropomorphised live gas flame. The mascot is credited with successfully persuading women to cook and heat their homes using gas instead of electricity,[1] and has been touted as one of the most recognizable national brands of the 1930s.[2]
History
editMr Therm was initially created by the newly formed publicity department of the Gas Light and Coke Company.[2] He was often used in comic strip advertisements, such as one persuading the reader of the advantages of gas heating in the winter, and was sometimes accompanied by the slogan "Mr Therm never lets London down", which put forward that gas suppliers were not vulnerable to electrical power cuts.[2]
Mr Therm was largely more androgynous than other energy industry mascots.[1]
- ^ a b Gooday, Graeme (2008). Domesticating electricity: technology, uncertainty and gender, 1880-1914. Science and culture in the nineteenth century. London: Pickering & Chatto. ISBN 978-1-85196-975-3.
- ^ a b c Scott, Peter (2017). The market makers: creating mass markets for consumer durables in inter-war Britain (1st ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 198–205. ISBN 978-0-19-878381-7.