Labour minister Ed Miliband is being mocked online for using Daisy Lowe to sell his heat pumps in a strange Pride and Prejudice-themed shoot.
In the advert Lowe has donned a collection of regency-esque dresses as she posed with the eco-friendly heating system in various rooms at Muncaster Castle in Ravenglass, Cumbria – a historic building powered by ground-source heat pumps.
Jane Austen theme continues throughout the campaign which the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) hopes will encourage ‘heat pump pride’ over ‘heat pump prejudice.’
It continues: ‘Much like Mr Darcy at a ball, heat pumps were once eyed with suspicion – but now they are stealing hearts (and lowering the carbon footprint) across the UK.’
However, the new push to promote heat pumps using Lowe has been ridiculed by campaigners who have described the stunt as a waste of money.
Consumer champion Martyn James told The Daily Telegraph: ‘What people want is a plain English guide on the best way to cut their out-of-control bills, subsidies for tighter budgets and a guarantee that they won’t lose out when heat pump prices drop.’
Mike Foster, CEO of Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) said that heat pumps already have a reputation for being expensive to buy and run and having a celebrity pose with them in a castle ‘plays to that stereotype’.
Daisy Lowe donned a collection of regency-esque dresses as she posed with a heat pump for the Pride and Prejudice-themed ad campaign
Jane Austen theme continues throughout the campaign which the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) hopes will encourage ‘heat pump pride’ over ‘heat pump prejudice’
The bizarre ad campaign has been ridiculed by campaigners who have described the stunt as a waste of money
Heat pumps are an energy-efficient heating system that transfers rather than generates heat.
It does so using electricity to move heat from a cooler source to a warmer space which therfores means it can be used to both increase and decrease the temperature in a room.
Both Labour and the previous Conservative governments have both seen the technology as crucial in order to hit net zero targets.
However, convincing the public to buy the heating system has proved difficult due to the high cost of installation.
Labour have set a target for 600,000 heat pumps to be installed each year by 2028. But at the moment they are fallen well behind this lofty ambition after just 60,000 were installed last year.
To encourage greater uptake among consumers, DESNZ has offered £7,500 grants to households to have their first ever heat pump fitted.
Ed Miliband’s department have set a target for 600,000 heat pumps to be installed each year by 2028. But at the moment they are fallen well behind this lofty ambition after just 60,000 were installed last year
The government have previously launched another ad campaign earlier this month. In this advert, created by agency M&C Saatchi, featured stop-frame animations of knitted characters reading testimonials written by real-life heat pump owners.
A Government spokesperson told the Telegraph: ‘Everyone deserves to live in a warm, comfortable home and our creative campaign will help more households get a £7,500 grant towards a heat pump.’
‘We are in the third year of this campaign, which helped increase heat pump sales by 63pc in 2024.’
MailOnline have approached DESNZ for a comment.
