While Nike and Urban Outfitters have felt the wrath of the Irish, we should look closer to home when accusing others of damaging our reputation, writes Paul Allen
The essential item of clothing this St Patrick’s Day for some Irish people should be a t-shirt emblazoned with ‘Kiss Me, I’m Irate!’
Yes, you’d think we’d have enough political and economic turmoil to be dealing with, without getting our knickers in a twist over some hipster clothing store and the world’s largest sports brand.
Urban Outfitters had the audacity to suggest that the Irish have an unhealthy relationship with drink when it released a range of “drunk Irish” t-shirts
One featured the phrase “Irish yoga” and beneath depicted an image of a person on their hands and knees being sick. Another ran the lines – ‘Kiss me. I’m drunk or Irish, or whatever.’
On both sides of the Atlantic the Irish were up in arms. How dare Urban Outfitters defame the Irish people, they cried. But, in reality, the store’s only crime was telling the truth.
Whether it is in Dublin, New York or Boston, the sight of Irish people staggering around drunk or doing “Irish yoga” on the street or sidewalk is relatively common.
Next in the firing line was Nike. The sports clothing giant’s mistake was simply using colour to describe one of its products.
Nike was forced to apologise after naming its new running shoe the Black and Tan in advertisements. The $90 limited edition sneaker sparked fury among certain Irish communities because they linked the name with memories of the notorious British paramilitary unit that terrorised Irish citizens during the War of Independence.
While the official name was the SB Dunk Low, adverts for the trainer read: “Tis the season for Irish beer and why not celebrate with Nike. The Black and Tan sneaker takes inspiration for the fine balancing act of a Stout (Guinness) on top a Pale Ale (Harp) in a pint glass.”
But when did Irish people become so sensitive and stuck in the past?
Yes, someone at Nike should have at least Googled the term before unofficially christening one of its running shoes Black and Tan, but surely it can be forgiven for not taking into account the troubled history of a small nation.
Irish people have succeeded not by, as Patrick Kavanagh put it, “paddling in the pools of the past”, but by reaching outwards. Irish people have always had the resilience to put the past behind them and move forward.
However, there are those who believe in an Ireland that no longer exists.
When the New York St Patrick’s Day Parade’s website recently published its set of guidelines, one stated: “The only banners allowed are ones identifying the unit or ‘England Get Out of Ireland’.”
Many may point to the apparent hurt caused by Nike or damage done by Urban Outfitters, but I can assure you that such outdated thinking does far more to put a dent in the Irish community’s reputation.
But thankfully, the Irish nation is no longer stuck in such time warp. And neither should Irish Americans.
The property market is either on the verge of bouncing back or is set to remain stagnant, according the reports. But the ‘truth’ depends on which newspaper you read, writes Paul Allen.
You may point your finger at me, but the vast majority of people seem blissfully unaware of who the real ‘spin doctors’ actually are.
They scoff at communications specialists, public relations consultants and media advisors, constantly blaming them for spinning the truth.
But the question is — how would you define ‘spin’?
Most of us see it as an attempt to put a particular viewpoint or bias on information and how it is portrayed in the media. For sure, I am guilty as charged, your honour.
But when it comes to the information we all consume on a daily basis it is important we understand that when it comes to ‘spinning’ there are many hands at work.
Take the latest report released by the property website Daft.ie just last week. Its “inaugural Consumer Attitudes Survey” attempts to measure how people currently feel about the property market and tries to uncover their purchasing intentions.
The results of the survey were presented in a relatively straightforward manner when released by Daft.ie, but the interpretation or dare I say ‘spin’ given to them by the media was interesting to note.
The Irish Independent’s headline was arguably the most sober and straightforward of the lot — “Home-buyers not planning to take plunge for two years.”
The introduction to the story underlined how the Government’s attempts at kickstarting the property market have so far failed. This is because the majority of people, according to Daft.ie, expect house prices to continue falling as they do not believe, even now, they represent good value for money.
Readers of The Irish Times, however, woke up to a somewhat different spin on the figures. The self-professed paper of record ran the headline — “Survey finds 40% set to buy property.”
It then went on to highlight how the report “found that more than 12 per cent of those want to buy a place as soon as possible, while another quarter hope to find a new home in 12 months.”
It is interesting that the country’s two main papers would have such different interpretations of the Daft report when it came to headline writing. One took a glass-half-empty viewpoint, while the other put on its rose-tinted glasses and saw the glass as being at least half full.
One would have to wonder if the obsession we all had with the Irish property market, which for many was fuelled by The Irish Times’ property supplement, has any connection with that paper’s rosier outlook?
So if you happened to arrive in Ireland from abroad last week and spotted the Irish Independent’s headline you would most likely believe the Irish property market still has some ways to go before finally recovering.
However, if you happened upon The Irish Times’ you would be left with the impression that property market is getting ready to roar once more.
The main winner out of all of this is of course Daft.ie. Not only was its press release carried by the daily nationals and on countless radio and television bulletins, but once again it is being highlighted in this article. Daft simply threw in the ball and let the media put its own spin on things. That is often how the media game works.
Indeed, we would be gullible to think that given standard facts all newspapers will take the same viewpoint. This is a good thing in general as the more pluralistic our media the better. However, the negative side of this is when people don’t believe there is any inherent bias brought to bear by the media organisation delivering the story.
People would be wise to remember that often when it comes to the most effective ‘spin doctors’ the media at large wins hands down.
Some may see it as plain old paddywhackery, but turning the world’s major landmarks green on St Patrick’s Day will help provide Ireland with a much needed boost, writes Paul Allen
The dour, self-loathing-Irish brigade was out in force this week. Indeed, only the Irish could bemoan the spectacular news that many of the world’s major landmarks will turn green on Saint Patrick’s Day, including Niagara Falls, the London Eye, Berlin’s iconic TV tower in Alexanderplatz and South Africa’s Table Mountain.
Despite this marketing coup, which will help promote tourism and Ireland in these times of great need, the merchants of doom were deriding the decision.
Newstalk’s Ivan Yates led the charge as he huffed and puffed on his morning radio show deriding the stunt as a pure case of “Paddywhackery”. In fact, he believed this fantastic promotional drive was “actually urinating tax payers’ money up against Niagara Falls.”
Regardless of what Mr Yates believes, the fact is simple — on March 17 the rest of the world will be green with envy at Ireland. And rightly so.
What other nation get’s the world to celebrate its national day en masse every year? What other nation has millions, if not billions, toasting its health?
It is easy for Irish people to dismiss such a warm appreciation for their homeland, but you can be sure the British wish St George’s Day, and the Scottish St Andrew’s Day, produced such widespread warmth for their piece of old sod.
Regardless of whether you think St Patrick’s Day is a load of old shamrocks and shillelaghs, as an opportunity to market and promote Ireland it is unrivalled.
Leprechauns, Riverdance and Aran jumpers are simply part of our brand — like it or not. And no matter how much they make some people squirm, they are part of the reason Ireland and Irish culture punches well above its weight.
Why is the Irish pub a worldwide phenomenon? Because it is a place to meet friends, have a beer and enjoy warm hospitality. Ireland’s icons are non-threatening, unlike England’s bulldog or Scotland’s thorny thistle.
And while Irish people abroad may feel stereotyped as an extra in The Quiet Man, I think this says more about their po-faced lack of confidence than anything else.
Ireland has a great track record of using its culture and the warm affection other countries have for it, to its advantage.
This week saw Vice President of China Xi Jinping arrive in Dublin, a highly significant milestone in the relationship between the two countries. This momentous occasion was the result of many years of work behind the scenes. But long before the Taoiseach was pressing the flesh with this most senior of political figures from China, Riverdance was helping foster friendship.
When one of the largest trade missions to ever leave our shores, comprising of 174 Irish business people from 82 Irish companies, journeyed to China in 2003, Tiananmen Square was awash with tricolours. But this display of respect and affection was not for the trade delegation, but to mark Riverdance’s historic performance in the Great Hall of the People.
And just like Riverdance produces groans of “paddywhackery” among some self-loathing Irish, so too does Waterford Crystal. However, it was this iconic brand that was used to help transform the Whitehouse into an open house on March 17 for Irish dignitaries.
Dot Tubridy (a cousin of Ryan Tubridy) began the tradition of presenting a Waterford Crystal bowl of shamrock to the President of America back when John F Kennedy’s was in office. To this day the tradition survives.
So while the sight of what the begrudgers call “plastic paddies” draped in their psychedelic green outfits will cause some to frown, the fact that this year more than ever the world will turn green on St Patrick’s Day should be celebrated.
And the begrudgers should remember that on March 17 there are, as the saying goes, only two kinds of people in the world — the Irish and those who wish they were.