St Patrick’s Day – a day when everybody claims to have some kind of Irish lineage. A day, also, when Irish stereotypes run rampant and we all have a good gripe about them over our eighth pint of Guinness.
If there’s one thing that us Irish people are good at, it’s laughing at ourselves but has one American clothing line taken it just a tad bit too far?
Irish news website Irish Central reports that US chain store Urban Outfitters is pandering to negative stereotypes about the Irish by offering a trucker hat that features the phrase: “Irish Yoga: downward facing upchuck” and a picture of a person on their hands and knees puking up some shamrocks. Lovely.
Now, we’re all for having a laugh at our own expense but it’s annoying when other people make fun of us.
Urban Outfitters has been accused of slagging off other races/religions/countries in the past, so maybe we’re just next in their firing line. In their exclusive St Patrick’s Day collection for men, they also have a green t-shirt for sale that’s printed with the image of a beer glass alongside the slogan “Get me drunk and we’ll see.”
In recent years, major American retailers have had to resort to carefully assessing their stock just in case it is found offensive by a specific cultural group, however despite these measures the Irish seem to remain fair game.
We know we’re hilarious and all about the craic, but if they don’t start being more careful they could seriously start to offend us all.
Granted we may enjoy a few drinks every now and then, but seriously America, we don’t actually puke shamrocks…
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