Mar

4

Denny’s Grand Irish Slam

Filed Under Business, History, PC | 4 Comments

I’m of Irish descent, and as such am used to the traditional references about the Irish so this kind of stuff rolls off my back. But what I do find amazing is that ad agencies continue to fail to thoroughly think through some “jokes” they use in their ads.

Maybe the fact that we Irish are traditionally thick-skinned and don’t organize a boycott every time somebody steps on a shamrock is the reason we’re not considered “off limits” when it comes to mockery from Madison Avenue, but not this time:

Left with egg on its face, Denny’s has apologized for its commercial joking about the Irish Potato Famine.

The spot, promoting an all-you-can-eat french fries and pancakes offer, drew plenty of complaints and threats of protests by Irish Americans, saying it made light of the 19th century famine that left more than a million people dead.

Can you imagine an ad joking about a deadly famine in Africa ever making it on air?

But Irish-Americans don’t have a self-proclaimed “leader” like other groups do (not since Irish civil rights leader Shamus O’Sharpton was killed attempting to hijack a Guinness truck), so often the insults fall by the wayside.

A group of my Irish friends and I who are tired of the perpetuation of Irish stereotypes had planned a protest at the local Denny’s but ended up stopping off at the bar on the way and never quite made it.

Comments

4 Responses to “Denny’s Grand Irish Slam”

  1. Rick on March 4th, 2010 3:33 pm

    Finally,a reason for the Irish to sue Denny’s…everyone else has!

    Free Riverdance tickets for all!
    Green eggs n’ham at Denny’s for St.Pat’s.

  2. Joyanna Adams on March 4th, 2010 10:03 pm

    If not for the potato famine, we would not have had "Angela's Ashes!"

  3. joe on March 12th, 2010 6:06 pm

    Angelas Ashes was about 75 years after the Irish holocaust

  4. eulogy speech on May 25th, 2011 5:46 am

    The domain of multimillion dollar corporations, the concept of branding is being embraced by individuals and small businesses as a means to distinguish themselves from the competition.Thanks for sharing the informative post. Regards. david77

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