Featuring a character that looks suspiciously like our first cousin.
The award-winning Epic Irish Emigration Museum pride themselves on showcasing unique and inspiring stories of Irish people who travelled the world, influencing and shaping it along the way. They celebrate the resilience and character of our ancestors, and their monumental achievements throughout history.
In a new campaign, EPIC are pledging to challenge the negative stereotypes attached to Ireland and the Irish people. As part of their research, they discovered predictive search data linking the Irish to fighting, drinking, potatoes and holding grudges.
Their This is Not Us campaign aims to confront these perceptions by using them to visualise what a person would look like if they were true. The resulting imaginary character is Paddy McFlaherty, a spud loving, pint drinking feen that'd take the shirt off any man's back.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgMY0uLsS3_/
Of course, we're all in agreement that such stereotypes are misleading and potentially harmful, and it's important to challenge them and show the world who the Irish really are.
But with that said... Paddy does bear an uncanny resemblance to pretty much every lad you'll find sitting at the bar in pubs up and down the country on a Saturday night, or up early on a Sunday morning rounding up the childer to cut turf or move cattle. We see him, we know him... let's be honest with ourselves, on some level, we are him. He's the man that everyone was picturing when creating their Irish Uncle Matt Le Blanc memes, with a longtime subscription to the Farmers Journal and an intense distrust of Alexa.
But hey, that could just be us. The only way to really know for sure is by organising a trip into EPIC for yourself - find out more and get planning
HERE.
Header image via Twitter/EPIC Irish Emigration Museum
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