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1959 to 1999 was a pivotal time in the Republic of Ireland's short history. This book's journey commences in 1959 when the country had just taken its first steps on the road to internationalization. It concludes 40 years later in 1999, by which time Ireland had metamorphosed into one of the most globalized countries in the world. Inevitably, many of the country's cultural and societal norms were challenged. The author charts many of the changes that occurred over the course of those years by piecing together a large number of the ads held in the Guinness Archive. Just as Irishness, cultural specificity and the provenance of Guinness formed an integral part of these ads, so too did the growing prevalence of international cultural tropes. The book seeks to interrogate the following: the influence of the Guinness brand's provenance on advertising campaigns aimed at consumers living in Ireland; the evolution of cultural signs used in Guinness's advertising campaigns aimed at consumers in Ireland between 1959 and 1999; the extent to which Ireland's social and economic history might be recounted through the lens of Guinness's ads; the extent to which Guinness's advertising might have influenced Irish culture and society.
List of contents
Foreword by Patrick Guinness
Introduction
1. 959-1969: New beginnings
2. 1970-1979: Emerging voices
3. 1980-1989: Economic hardship
4. 1990-1999: A period of unprecedented change
Concluding thoughts
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Dr Patricia Medcalf is a Lecturer in Advertising and Marketing at TU Dublin where she is course leader on the Bachelor degree programme in Advertising and Marketing Communications. She previously worked as Project Director with corporate and brand identity specialists Brand Union (formerly known as The Identity Business). Before that she was a marketing consultant with Siemens in Dublin and an account manager with Brann Direct Marketing in the UK. In 2004, she published the textbook, Marketing Communications: An Irish Perspective. Her PhD thesis analysed five decades of Guinness Advertising in Ireland. Recent publications in this area include a chapter in Patriomoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland (2019).
Report
« For most Irish people, Christmas really starts when the Guinness advertisements, from the home of the 'black stuff', appears on television with the haunting music and the imagery of snow-covered urban and rural scenes. Just as the product has become a synecdoche of Irishness, so the advertisements have become iconic signifiers of both the product and of a sense of Irishness. In this original and thought-provoking study, Trish Medcalf traces and analyses Guinness advertisements from 1959-1999. As well as looking at the advertisements themselves, she provides a telling critique of how they both responded to, and at times led, the changes in Irish society over that period. » (Eugene O'Brien, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick)
