Ad for certain Dublin hotel - offensive?

bubbaloo

Mods - I'm not adding this to the "worst/best radio ads" thread because I'm looking for feedback specifically on one ad.....

Have you heard the ad(s) for the Mespil Hotel on the radio? The one where the guy tells his wife about their friends going to Dublin for the weekend and staying in the Mespil and suggests going there for a weekend themselves - and says "while we're up there we might look at one of those phones" - as if they had never heard of this type of technology - a phone - before! :rolleyes:
This is one of a series of ads, which to my mind are all equally ridiculous. Another of them refers to a lipstick as something extraordinary that they'd never be able to get at home!!
I find them all deeply offensive. I think they portray anyone from outside of Dublin as intellectually inferior and in my opinion they make fun of people and the perceived "backwardness" of anywhere outside the pale.
I have written to the Mespil with my views and their response was that they received an enormous amount of positive feedback on these ads. :eek:
What do you think? Am I just being over-sensitive?
(By the way, I'm Dublin born and reared!!)
Thanks.

wyrn

Every time I hear that ad I think they are going to end it with a "ah with those deals I booked us in too, an opportunity too good miss" blah blah blah etc...

However he mentions about getting "one of those phones" when in Dublin. Silly advertisers who wrote this.

Although I do love the way he says "google maps". Tee hee!

JonathanAnon

yeah I've always got the feeling about those ads... "thick culchies, when you come to dublin for your once a year trip, packing everybody in to a trailer behind the tractor, come and stay in the Mespil"... hard to know who the ad is directed at..

gbee

I thought it was an iPhone ad for 3/V/O2 and thought they did not get their logo right.

For me the ad for all those things one can do on the iPhone you could book things on-line as well and they were going to Dublin anyway [for what I never picked up on] and I never realised it was an ad for a hotel.

But now that, that's sorted, you can ask for a consultation fee from them and split is with board members who reply to this thread.

In anticipation of a big remuneration, I'm goring to say it was a great ad

gbee

and if there isn't a big remuneration, I'll come back and say what I really mean.

bubbaloo

gbee wrote: »

and if there isn't a big remuneration, I'll come back and say what I really mean.

Ha ha . Maybe I'll chance that! God knows we all have to try for a few extra quid in these times!

Cole

When I first heard one of those ads, I thought it was going to lead to an ironic punchline and that is was essentailly a p1ss take.....but they don't seem to be!

It might have been somewhat more accurate 30 years ago, when heading up to the city was a bigger deal (speaking from experience:)) but they're just ridiculously ignorant now........heading up to the big shhhhmoke to look at the modern yokes they have:rolleyes:

I think it says a lot about the person(s) who gave the ads the ok.

fabbydabby

I haven't heard this advert - I have only heard (lots of) people giving out about it. Is it on a national station?

Like Jonathananon said - hard to see who something like this would have been aimed at, isn't it?

People staying in a Dublin hotel are primarily going to be from outside Dublin right? Portraying us as slack jawed knuckle draggers is not a good way to entice us into your hotel Mespil. You might note the position..

Poochie05

It's just like any other of those annoying ads that use lazy stereotypes, in this case backward culchies who only come up to the Big smoke once year. I wouldn't take any special offense from it apart from having being subjected to another rubbish ad - I think at this stage every group of society has been offended by an ad: Dublin burglars, northsiders feeding their kids junk food, women only thinking of designer brands, male drivers killing their girlfriends, people from Charleville ... Equal opportunity stereotyping!

neris

pretty crap ad but most of their ads in the past have been like that aswell where youd swear people came to dublin once a year and it was a major trip to get to dublin.

yiddo59

Sounds like an ad from the 70s when people from "down the country" (like me) had to travel to Dublin to shop.

PS Not offended by it but certainly wouldn;t entice me to stay there.

mrsdewinter

Heard that ad again this morning and almost fell out of bed trying to turn off the radio. All I can say is that I will never stay in the Mespil. The cheesy music, the culchie accents you never hear outside of ads, the outdated stereotypes, they're just appalling. Fair play to OP for contacting the Mespil over them. Never crossed my mind!

fabbydabby

What station is it on?

salad dodger

fabbydabby wrote: »

What station is it on?

TodayFM is where i usually hear this stupid ad:rolleyes:

Fighting Irish

bubbaloo wrote: »

Mods - I'm not adding this to the "worst/best radio ads" thread because I'm looking for feedback specifically on one ad.....

Have you heard the ad(s) for the Mespil Hotel on the radio? The one where the guy tells his wife about their friends going to Dublin for the weekend and staying in the Mespil and suggests going there for a weekend themselves - and says "while we're up there we might look at one of those phones" - as if they had never heard of this type of technology - a phone - before! :rolleyes:
This is one of a series of ads, which to my mind are all equally ridiculous. Another of them refers to a lipstick as something extraordinary that they'd never be able to get at home!!
I find them all deeply offensive. I think they portray anyone from outside of Dublin as intellectually inferior and in my opinion they make fun of people and the perceived "backwardness" of anywhere outside the pale.
I have written to the Mespil with my views and their response was that they received an enormous amount of positive feedback on these ads. :eek:
What do you think? Am I just being over-sensitive?
(By the way, I'm Dublin born and reared!!)
Thanks.

lol

Totally

bubbaloo

Thanks for your opinions everyone. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who can't bear to hear these ads. Suffice to say I won't be booking into the Mespil at any stage! :P

FR

am from Dublin, live in Dublin and can't stand this ad. Can't believe they would expect anyone being portrayed as big thicko country folk to even consider their hotel... and it's totally emphasising the whole 'Dublin as the centre of Ireland' which anyone outside of Dublin hates (but that I totally agree with )

thank god I'm not alone in thinking this ad is terrible!

TimmyTarmac

We need to put an end to such lazy and offensive stereotyping in advertising on the radio.
Here's what I propose...... We find out who the copywriter responsible for this abomonation is... find out where he/she lives... arrive at the house with a letter of condemnation .... and then, using a large slurry spreader, spray said residence with the freshest and most pungent slurry we can find.
He/ she will think again about stereotyping and insulting rural folk in future.

Or maybe I'll just switch channel. Whatever.

JonathanAnon

Just listening to that latest ad again.. Havent heard it in a while.. That "we might get one of those phone things" is just bizarre... and very badly informed.. Every farmer I know has a mobile phone, and the interior of their tractors are like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.. So why they are portraying country people as being complete technophobes is beyond me..

I dont think insulting your potential clients is good marketing.. I'd love an explanation from the marketing company, or even the company themselves as to what message this advert is meant to convey.. did you get a reply from them yet, bubbaloo?

klong

Maybe he means a smart phone in the ad? Not everybody has a smart phone.

bubbaloo

did you get a reply from them yet, bubbaloo?

This is the email I got in response to my complaint.........

"Thank you for your email regarding our current advertising campaign. I have been involved in the radio campaign since its inception and we have continued with this theme due to the positive feedback we receive from guests, colleagues and the general public. Unfortunately it is not possible to design an ad to suit all tastes and I know from reading your comments below you would not be in favour of our ad and I very much respect your views on this.
We take all comments on board in determining our next campaign and I have included your comments. To date the comments and reactions have been great and very positive.

Thank you for your feedback as it is important in setting new strategies going forward."


I can't believe that people would react positively to it. I live in hope that they will take my comments on board for the future - but somehow I doubt it!!

Derryleigh

This should probably go in the worst best ads thread too, but the ad for a bank where the guy talks about not knowing to do with all the money he has.

How distasteful in the current climate when most peoples only money worries surround the fact that they dont have any!

Canluum

Not saying it's a particularly amazing ad... but to get up in arms and offended by something so blatantly outrageous is more than a little silly. It's like getting offended by Lucky Charms cereal or any t-shirt in tourist shop. Or a dub getting offended by a hypothetical ad where someone with a dublin accent says "do cows eat beef" or "can you milk a bull?" etc.

Take your panties and untwist please.

I have been involved in the radio campaign since its inception and we have continued with this theme due to the positive feedback we receive from guests, colleagues and the general public. Unfortunately it is not possible to design an ad to suit all tastes and I know from reading your comments below you would not be in favour of our ad and I very much respect your views on this.

Fair play to them.

fabbydabby

going forward

This invalidates the entire email.

jimmyw

Those two words drives me insane:mad:.They might have been talking about a particular brand of phone:P:confused:

That sketch that was on last night on the savage eye with the two pretending to be from Cavan coming out of the shed, spring to mind.

Barname

ROI Population: 4,470,000

FF Voters (latest Poll 02.02.11) 16%

16% of 4,470,00 = 715,200

there are over 700,000 self-harming gimps out there that would take no offence by that ad

a small share of them and occupancy is up

bubbaloo

Canluum wrote: »

Not saying it's a particularly amazing ad... but to get up in arms and offended by something so blatantly outrageous is more than a little silly. It's like getting offended by Lucky Charms cereal or any t-shirt in tourist shop. Or a dub getting offended by a hypothetical ad where someone with a dublin accent says "do cows eat beef" or "can you milk a bull?" etc.

Take your panties and untwist please.

Fair play to them.

I see your point - I suppose we all accept it on a daily basis to some extent. But I just think they're alienating their target audience.
Anyway, thanks for replying!

Amazotheamazing

The point of the ads, imo, is that people are willing to make up any old excuse to go and stay in the Mespill, it's just that good a place to stay. Hence they are going to Dublin to buy things they could easily buy locally (phones, lipstick etc).

The ad obviously doesn't work but I'm surprised so many people have missed that fairly straightforward message.

squonk

I logged on here to complain about this ad that I heard last week. thought it was awful as well. I am a culchie and I'm in Galway now and there's no hassle getting iPhones this part of the world. Thought it made country people sound awful thick, which they're not. Well done OP for beating me to it!!

fabbydabby

I heard it today for the first time, but only because I was listening out for it... which shows that's it's not a very effective advert really because I usually notice ads, particularly annoying ads.

Yeah I just though it was stupid, not very clever, funny or witty (let's buy a phone WTF?) but I woudln't go complaining about it.

I would just make a mental note never to darken the door of the place unless it was just to nip in and darken the bowl of their jacks.

bubbaloo

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The point of the ads, imo, is that people are willing to make up any old excuse to go and stay in the Mespill, it's just that good a place to stay. Hence they are going to Dublin to buy things they could easily buy locally (phones, lipstick etc).

The ad obviously doesn't work but I'm surprised so many people have missed that fairly straightforward message.

I don't really think that's the concept - surely they would have mentioned this in their reply email to me?
Maybe you work for the Marketing department of the Mespil ??

I would just make a mental note never to darken the door of the place unless it was just to nip in and darken the bowl of their jacks.

Now there's an idea!!

Cole

I hadn't heard the latest Mespil ad (the farmer and the phone) until recently, but.....:eek:....and the smarmy voiceover at the end saying along the lines of "whatever your reason for coming to Dublin....make sure you stay at the Mespil."

I'm not quite offended, but it's safe to say that if I needed to book a hotel, I would actually try to book anywhere other than the Mespil.

UPCurley

I'm from 'the country' and I wouldn't rate mespil as somewhere I'd like to stay when in Dublin. It always sounded just like a 'bed for the night' type of place before this new ad campaign. Us rednecks like a nice quality, clean place in a safe area etc. I always imagined it would suit fellas short of money.

I wouldn't be offended by the ad. I'd imagine the type of people they are trying to attract is very similar to the type of people running the ad campaigns. They just don't factor anyone else would like to stay in a place like that.

Wouldn't you be very disappointed if you were seduced by an ad on the radio for lovely hotel and arrived at that place???

Firetrap

The fact that people are talking about it has to count for something Personally, if I had a need to stay in the Big Smoke, I'd be looking for a hotel that's reasonably decent and won't hurt my pocket.

Jxd

Got your attention though !!

colinonetwo

can anyone hepl me. i'm looking for someone make radio ad's for me as an nixer

Liam Byrne

About as logical as a radio ad for deaf people.