Brand Ireland

[sauntersplash]

Several world landmarks are to be turned green this St. Patrick's Day, in celebration of the conversion of Ireland to Christianity and the explanation of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity to the people (joking, of course, really in celebration of an opportunity for a piss-up and a chance to patronize a nation they believe to be loveable drunk thickos or misty-eyed poet types). The Sydney Opera House, the Empire State, the London Eye etc. will be lit green by Tourism Ireland types, eager to collude in the demeaning of our people by playing up every hackneyed stereotype of Ireland to persuade someone to come here and spend money to help get us out of the sh1tstorm we created for ourselves by gambling like lunatics on the value of bricks (Is Tourism Ireland what used to be called 'Bord Fáilte'?). Anyway, one of said Tourism Ireland types referred to this as being great for the 'Ireland brand'.

Spectacular prose.

[Malbekh]

Spectacular prose.

How do you think I felt? It was like 'what happens when I push this big red button here?'

[Gael Nua]

For gods sake its vital to sell the country by whatever means possible. We may not like it, we may laugh at its hypocrisy, but if it drags some naive 'wallets' over here to spend their money then so be it. Personally i woldn't mind if we lived up to our stereotype a bit and were a lot more friendlier.

[Pauli]

if it drags some naive 'wallets' over here to spend their money then so be it. .

So ripping off unwitting tourists should be a central plank of our hoped-for future economic prosperity??

[Mitsui2]

So ripping off unwitting tourists should be a central plank of our hoped-for future economic prosperity??

Well it was standard practice in our hoped-we-were-rid-of-it economic past, Pauli. And behind all the spin, various forms of "Back To The Future" do seem to be a central plank of the government's policy - though whether it's back to the '80s or back to the '50s is still hard to say. The 50's, I suspect - there was far more optimism around in the '80s than I see here now.

Quite apart from anything else, we must all relearn the great Irish talent for Knowing Our Place!

[Gael Nua]

So ripping off unwitting tourists should be a central plank of our hoped-for future economic prosperity??

Where are you going with Central plank? And we've been doing it for decades, why stop now? The Emirates and Saudis have tried to build their way into a tourist economy, we have it on our laps thanks to the stereotypical image of the country. We need the money, they are willing to come, no harm reminding a few others of why they should come too. But its not enough to get them to come we have to make it an experience they'd like to repeat or at least talk about - which means trad music on every corner, drunken morons off the streets, B&Bs with a cow out the back garden.....

Nothing wrong with building a very strong tourist economy and best way to do that is to play to your perceived strengths.

[Pauli]

Where are you going with Central plank? And we've been doing it for decades, why stop now? The Emirates and Saudis have tried to build their way into a tourist economy, we have it on our laps thanks to the stereotypical image of the country. We need the money, they are willing to come, no harm reminding a few others of why they should come too. But its not enough to get them to come we have to make it an experience they'd like to repeat or at least talk about - which means trad music on every corner, drunken morons off the streets, B&Bs with a cow out the back garden.....

Nothing wrong with building a very strong tourist economy and best way to do that is to play to your perceived strengths.

I completely agree. Offer tourists a reason to come and a stronger reason to come back. I don't believe this includes drunken morons on the streets or cows in the back garden. Nor do I believe that ripping them off is a sound basis for repeat business. There are other destinations tourists can go to and we are not that bloody special that people will fork out hard earned money to rip off merchants whose "product" they may deem to be dire.

[Mitsui2]

Nor do I believe that ripping them off is a sound basis for repeat business.

Now there you go with that long-term thinking again, Pauli! You've been listening to too many of them Germans again, and look where long-term thinking got them! We don't do long-term thinking any more than we do joined-up thinking. It's the irish way, darn it - smash and grab now, and to hell with later!

[Cato]

The only people who talk of these things are people who dress in photocopier salesman suits and talk in clichés or overworn managementspeak gibberish because that's all their second-class minds can cope with whilst simultaneously trying to speak in that self-loathing trans-Atlantic abomination of an accent they use and also hoping that no-one notices the trail of greasiness they leave behind them as they scurry around pushing their filthy wares on people too vacuous and materialistic to recognise common-or-garden vermin when they see it.

I once sat through a meeting with marketing types from Guinness talking to a group of publicans in Galway about how to increase business. As they were talking one of them came out with the line, "We want all of your customers to have a stardust experience in your bars." You could have heard a pin drop. Now all of these marketing guys were Irish but not one of them understood the cultural relevance of the word 'stardust' in Ireland in relation to bars.

In the company I worked for I had a profound dislike for Marketing and HR; jargon riddled, PC, nonsense speakers...

[Mitsui2]

we are not that bloody special that people will fork out hard earned money to rip off merchants whose "product" they may deem to be dire.

Well it's worked in Irish politics for decades!