Marketing Myths and the Cultural Commodification of Ireland

Abstract

The rural idyll and nostalgia for a ‘lost’ past have frequently been the themes of marketing myths. Recently, there has been a surge in such marketing strategies that draw on cultural constructions of Ireland and of Irishness. The appropriation and reworking of these themes by a range of enterprises entails a complete cultural commodification of Ireland and its past. Focusing on the imagery and rhetoric produced chiefly for external consumption, this article aims to unpack representations used in the marketing of the Celtic myth. It emphasises the importance of interpreting such cultural representations in the context of the locational and historical specificities within which they were produced and of recognising that this occurs within an increasingly globalised world. Critical analysis of the processes involved is used as a springboard to pose questions for future research about these marketing myths and realities.