the
American Gas Association also asked some influencers to flaunt their gas stoves with the goal of targeting “hispanic millennials,” “design enthusiasts,” “promising families,” and “young city solos.”
I don't even know what any of that means. Do people not use gas powered stoves to cook food? Or does everyone just only use a microwave and order take out and eat "raw" foods or something?
That whole thing about Shell is pretty dumb. Let's go out and promote our stuff to young people. Which young people you mean 18-20 years olds? Do you think they have enough disposable in come to go to a shell gas station? I live in California and the price for shell gas can range from $6.00-$7.00 per gallon!!!!!!!!!!! It's just insane. Sorry for those in EU I'm not sure how much that is per liter in Petrol.
Electric stoves are increasing in use and there was a big hubbub about regulation on gas stoves. So the gas industry is getting pissy.
I will admit there is nothing better than a tortilla heated over an open flame, but honestly I can do without it, especially if it means I get to piss off the gas lobbyists and executives.
Maybe electric stoves have changed over the years, but when ever I think of an electric stove it's a flat surface that just gets hot over time. And if that is the case that would prove and issue especially with Hispanic millennials but like you said how are you going to get a tortilla a certain way? There is just something about an open flame that you sometimes need.
It recently came to light (in the US, anyway) that the air pollution from using natural gas stoves is similar to second hand smoke, which is a pretty harshly viewed thing in our younger generations (the anti-smoking push in US from 80s-90s was VERY effective). In addition, electric stoves actually used to be the default - gas companies, shockingly, advertised and pushed gas stoves as some kind of superior version even though the sentiment early on was that they were worse than electric (and in a lot of ways, they really are compared to electric, especially modern electric, if you know the differences).
After the study was released, regulators said they were going to investigate this, which instantly turned into a culture war thing for right-wingers turning it into things like "they'll take our gas stoves from our cold, dead hands" and things like that. It's of course expected for US right wing to go contrary to any regulation talk, but also they're already heavily financed by gas companies so yea.
So the companies are trying to target youth to try and prevent the anti-gas sentiment from spreading, presumably. It should be noted that while stoves, due to their use and placement, are the often the biggest air pollutant in the house, other gas appliances like furnaces and water heaters still contribute. On top of that, with solar power becoming very easy to get, and gas still being actually dangerous technically, it's more than likely on the way out. Of course a lot of the targeting youth is kinda moot anyway since basically every generation here from millennial onward has significantly less spending power or decision making ability for that kind of thing given the severe wealth theft - back when gas appliances were first pushed, it was when families with 1 working adult (well, probably working adult white man in most areas) could afford to just buy random appliances with some spending money.
Personally, having cooked with electric and gas, I've always preferred electric - it's extremely easy to control and be consistent with, and gives a more even spread of heat for pans which is great for soups / sauces like I like to make. I'm getting solar on my house this year (hopefully) and so the next big home overhaul would be to de-gas my place but that's only if we don't move before that becomes practical.
99 Percent Invisible had an episode recently talking about this since it had been in the news, and since in the modern day the whole gas stove being default / superior had taken hold, they looked at the history of it, the written article covers it in brief but the whole episode isn't too long and is enlightening.
Edit: Just to add, one reason I paid attention to this is 3 out of my 4 grandparents died to cancer presumably related to smoking, and there is a history of asthma in my family (my dad had severe cases, I had to be hospitalized multiple times as an infant but grew out of the worst of it). Exposing yourself to this kind of pollution on the regular, especially with so few homes (and apartments) having actual stove ventilation, is a legitimate health concern. The comparison to second hand smoke is useful because if you cook for 30 minutes you can compare that to having someone smoking behind you for 30 minutes - it's not fucking great.
I'm not gonna try to ban everyone from having gas but it absolutely should be taken seriously, since up until recently like leaded gasoline it was ignored as a hazard and lead to so many health issues. Unlike leaded gas, at least, it's a more local scale health issue but it does add up when the default is gas for appliances.