Crisis, what crisis? The significance of the 1973 Oil Embargo 

Jessica GrayPhD Candidate in the Department of HistoryUniversity of Leedshyjg@leeds.ac.uk

Crisis, what crisis? The nature of crisis and the extent to which it was shaped by other

considerations and concerns.

“Common-Sense” conservation? The extent to which the existence of crisis was able to generate

behavioural change.

Marks and Spencer: A Retailers ResponseAn evaluation of the significance of the commercial response, in

particular the measures and attitudes of Marks and Spencer.

Paper Outline

Crisis, what crisis?

S.O.S: The Initial Crisis

Save It: The 1975 Campaign

The National Trade Balance

Defining the Crisis

Domestic Energy Use

S.O.S: The Initial Crisis

15% reduction in oil supplies in the immediate

wake of the embargo. - Dominic Sandbrook, ‘Doomwatch: 73 – 74’, The 70s, BBC

2, May 2012.

Save It: The 1975 Campaign

‘today, one third of the way to 1980, Britain is in…a most unexpected …energy glut which will last as far ahead as one can see.’ - The Economist, 1976.

The National Trade Balance

The energy situation ‘has a disproportionately large effect on the national trade balance, and incentive for government to influence energy usage will be very great indeed’.

- J.C. Davidson November 1974

Defining the Crisis

Crises are more than the initial events themselves.

Their constituent parts are made up of incremental factors which combine to shape

our perceptions and our sense of crisis..

Cited in George F. Ray and Jenny Morel, ‘Energy Conservation in the UK’, Energy Economics (April, 1982), p. 83.

Domestic Energy Use

The Government’s Energy Agenda

The Impact of Domestic Price Rises

The Proximity of the Crisis to the Individual

The Government’s utilisation of Marks & Spencer

“Common-Sense” Conservation?

The Government’s Energy Agenda

‘Its objective is to change fundamentally the attitudes and behaviour of all energy users, on the

assumption that energy for the foreseeable future is going to become increasingly scarce and expensive.’

- David Fishlock, ‘Government launches drive to conserve energy’, Financial Times (1975).

The Impact of Domestic Price Rises

‘The real price of energy has risen since 1973 by a factor of five at the 

macro level and only by less than one at the 

micro level’- Ray and Morel (1982), p. 84.

‘It will be necessary for prices to increase

by much larger amounts, perhaps

doubling or trebling again from now current rates’, if

changes in behaviour are to take place.’

- J. C. Davidson November 1974

The Proximity of the Crisis to the Individual

‘Only Government can engender both the sense of

urgency and the actual urgency that is needed’.

- Central Policy Review Staff, Energy Conservation (1974).

The Government’s utilisation of Marks & Spencer

Reproduced courtesy of The Marks & Spencer Company Archive

Marks & Spencer’s Response to the Crisis

Energy Costs and Savings

House Keeping Measures

Research and Development

Leading By Example

The Lexis of the Household Economy

Reproduced courtesy of The Marks & Spencer Company Archive

Energy Costs and Savings

Reproduced courtesy of The Marks & Spencer Company Archive

House Keeping Measures

Reproduced courtesy of The Marks & Spencer Company Archive

Research and Development

Leading By Example

‘Marks and Spencer have taken the lead in

the past. This is another occasion on which we should be able to set a valuable

example to the country whilst benefiting

ourselves.’- Chairman Marcus Sieff, November 1974

‘By making better use of energy they demonstrate social responsibility as well 

as financial common-sense.’

- Letter to Marcus Sieff from the Master of Churchill College, Cambridge, The Times

(1974)

The lexis of the household economy

‘Waste not want not’ – St Michael News, June 1974.

‘We can’t afford to rest on our laurels. Either at work or at home.

We must not relax our efforts because we’ve

got to save for our future now!’ – St Michael News,

June 1977.

‘A switch in time – could save £½ million’ 

– St Michael News, February 1975.

‘“Save It” at home as well as at work’

 – St Michael News, February 1980.

‘Which is why, just as a family does, M&S is always looking at ways in which it can keep the bills down’ – St Michael News, 

August 1987.

Summary

There  was  a  clear  sense  of  crisis  in  the  wake  of  the  1973  oil embargo.

By 1975 this sense of crisis was increasingly shaped by wider factors and concerns.

The ability of crisis to generate behavioural change in the long term is limited without additional influence and conditioning.

Marks  and  Spencer  visibly  engaged  with  the  topic  of  energy conservation  and  sought  to  place  itself  within  the  wider  national trajectory.

The Company also made a clear effort to  initiate wider behavioural change by cultivating a clear parallel between their own efforts and that of the householder.

BibliographyPrimary Source Material:

‘Energy through pressure’, Economist, 26 June 1976 (London: England), pp. 62 – 63

The Central Policy Review Staff, Energy Conservation: A Study by The Central Policy review Staff (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, July 1974)

Archival collections:

The Marks & Spencer Company ArchiveJohn Lewis Partnership Archive Collection

Sainsbury ArchiveThe National Archives

Contemporary Literature:

Ray, George F., and Jenny Morel, ‘Energy Conservation in the UK’, Energy Economics (April, 1982), pp. 83 – 97

Secondary Literature:

Sandbrook, Dominic, ‘Doomwatch: 73 – 74’, The 70s, BBC 2, May 2012