In the immediate postwar period, the French Standardization Association (AFNOR) updated the quality and safety requirements needed to sell appliances within France. These new restrictions resulted in fewer options on the domestic market but encouraged mass production and cheaper prices. Rather than promoting specific brands, the posters produced by the EDF typically highlighted the joys of a generic electrical appliance in order to encourage citizens to purchase such items for their homes and take advantage of affordable electricity. SODEL (the Society for the Development of Electricity Applications), whose name appears at the lower right, was a subsidiary of EDF that published many posters promoting electricity during the 1950s and ‘60s. Here, a mermaid with a tail composed of an electrical cord hugs her new water heater. The tagline reads “cheap electric hot water.” Uncomplicated, direct messages like these helped combat the misconception that electric appliances were luxury items not meant for the middle-class consumer. Despite this, until very recently, most electric boilers in France were powered by imported oil or methane.