THE GENERAL ELECTION of March 1973 resulted in a change of government, when a Fine Gael-Labour coalition came to power.
Labour’s Justin Keating was appointed Minister for Industry and Commerce and brought the enthusiasm of a newcomer to his job. Although Ireland had joined the EEC in January of that year, the Community-wide free trade that came with the accession had been mitigated by several derogations negotiated during accession talks.
One notable derogation was that the requirement that cars sold in Ireland had to be assembled in Ireland was allowed to continue until 1985. Some quota restrictions on textile imports were maintained until 1977, a five-year reprieve that helped to protect the clothing, footwear and material industries from immediate competition.
It was well understood that these industries were particularly vulnerable and much of the publicity supporting Buy Irish campaigns at the time emphasised reducing clothing and footwear imports.
By now the economic effects of the oil crisis that began in 1973 were making themselves felt and in 1974 inflation was running at nearly 17 per cent. For many Irish manufacturers, with the exception of those producing items with short-term derogations, the effects of the European open market were beginning to be noticeable.
The unions and trade organisations approached the government in an unusual display of solidarity. They expressed their concern about the decline in demand for Irish goods, which was expected to accelerate, and emphasised the urgent need to establish a campaign for their promotion.
There had been frequent Buy Irish campaigns over the years, but with limited success, and in an endeavour to take a fresh approach to the issue, on 11 December 1974 Minister Justin Keating and industry and trade union representatives agreed to establish an eight-person steering committee, which was later given the catchy title ‘The Working Group on the Promotion and Sales of Irish Goods’. Thus Guaranteed Irish came into being. The taskforce was introduced to the public on 20 December 1974:
They were tasked with looking into how manufacturers and retailers might usefully cooperate in the promotion of Irish-made goods, and also with how to increase the consumer appeal of Irish goods. During their deliberations, they were free to call on other organisations to give them assistance.
The most significant findings of the group were that previous Buy Irish campaigns had depended on patriotic fervour and that the success of these campaigns was transient. Buy Irish campaigns had tended to be for short periods, and any new scheme should be of longer duration.
The group’s research found that in the previous 10 years, Irish manufacturers’ share of the market had fallen from 80 to 50 per cent, a trend that was continuing.
The group observed that years of protectionism had led to a perceived decline in standards, reflected in a reduction in sales and proposed a scheme whereby not only the Irishness of a product should be marked but a warranty of quality and suitability be provided, with a trusted after-sales service.
They came up with the name Guaranteed Irish for the scheme, which was initially to be run by the National Development Association. Graphic design companies were approached to create a symbol for the project. The brief was to use the letters ‘G’ and ‘I’ and it was essential that the symbol should be recognisable from a distance. The symbol created by Irish Graphic Design was chosen.
On 7 October 1975, the new service was inaugurated by Justin Keating and the working group in the Shelbourne Hotel. At the launch, the iconic Guaranteed Irish symbol was first publicly displayed. Its design, with the clever interposition of the ‘i’ within the ‘g’, was original and distinctive and proved very successful.
Within two months more than two hundred companies had acquired the mark and research found that there was an 83 per cent recognition of the symbol amongst consumers – 78 per cent recognition of the symbol on its own without the words ‘Guaranteed Irish’.
One major reason for this successful launch was a relatively recent addition to publicity options, television advertising with the national broadcaster RTÉ. The Chair of the taskforce, T.P. Hardiman, who had been director general of RTÉ, was well aware of the value of television advertising.
A successful national TV campaign presented by the Late Late Show host Gay Byrne was a major contributor to spreading awareness of Guaranteed Irish. In conjunction with the launch an extensive magazine and newspaper advertising campaign reinforced the symbol among the public. The government spent £50,000 on advertising the launch.
In order to join Guaranteed Irish companies were required to give a five-point undertaking:
In addition, each company was required to nominate a senior executive to handle complaints about its products.
The purpose of these undertakings was to assuage public misgivings about the quality of Irish goods and help to improve Irish manufacturing so that it could compete in the newly opened EEC export market. The scheme also stipulated that at least 40 per cent of the value of the product had to be added in Ireland (this is now 50 per cent)….
Enda MacMahon is an author and historian. His new book, Lessons of the Past is out now.
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