Criticism of St. Patrick’s Day Festival launch dismissed as ‘brilliant marketing gimmick’

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The launch of this year’s St Patricks Festival may have been controversial, but it was mostly clever marketing.

The festival kicked off on Monday, with some pointing to a lack of green.

Eric Nelligan, a representative for Aont in Limerick, said a lot was missing.

“When you and one of your listeners think of St. Patrick’s Day, what comes to mind?” he said on The Hard Shoulder.

“St Patrick, Traditional Irish Heritage, Dance [and] music.

“We have a monopoly on the color green in the western world and it struck me as very odd – whether by accident or design – the launches had no green [and] no St. Patrick’s Day.

“Is the traditional Irish culture, the heritage, the music, whatever – isn’t it more cool to be into that stuff?”

Brian Merriman, founder of the International Dublin Gay Theater Festival, told Newstalk Breakfast that the festival and the day are separate things.

“I think they have a bit of a Handmaid’s Tale feel about what the St. Patrick’s Day festival should be,” he said.

“They have to distinguish between St. Patrick’s Day and a festival.

Anziety (centre) with Sophie Hogan and Milie Daniel Dempse at the National Museum Collins Barracks for the launch of the St. Patrick’s Day Festival. Photo by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

“I salute the St. Patrick’s Day Festival – their job is to publicize the event.

“They put together such a range of colors that a bunch of different professional photo editors across the country said, ‘These photos are amazing, I’m going to put them on the front page.’

“If anyone thinks there will be an absence of green on St. Patrick’s Day – from green beer to green lights, to the green complexion of people overdoing it at the end of the day – there will be plenty of green on St. Patrick’s Day.

“Aont is a bit like the Henry Fords of festivals: you can have any color, as long as it’s black or green”.

“St Patrick never wore this”

Asked if that took away from the distinctiveness of the event, Mr Merriman said: ‘A photograph of a riot of one color across the country, but also around the world, is not a full snapshot of what’s to come.

“We will have St Patrick, who lived in the 4th or 5th century, we believe, depicted in medieval clerical robes with a bishop’s miter and green cassock over him – which of course he never wore.

“We will have leprechauns that do not exist”.

Dublin Mayor Caroline Conroy and Culture Minister Catherine Martin with artists at the National Museum Collins Barracks for the launch of the St Patrick’s Day Festival. Photo by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Mr Merriman said it was really smart marketing.

“St. Patrick’s Day as a festival … evolved into a brilliant marketing gimmick,” he said.

“The people who run the St. Patrick’s Day festival, their brief is, ‘Make sure you market this.’

“I know there were strange beasts and horned headdresses in it – but Celtic myths and legends are certainly full of them.

“We’re not giving anything up, we’re just including more,” he added.

You can listen again here:

Main image: Drag Queen Pixie with Narviz Barbara (left) and Ibeth Gomez Lozan (right) at the National Museum Collins Barracks for the launch of the St. Patrick’s Day Festival. Photo by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

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