Guinness mistakenly uses four-leaf clover instead of shamrock logo in St Patrick’s Day ads
Guinness Canada has made a fundamental, if not immediately noticeable, mistake with its OOH ads promoting St Patrick’s Day.
The Dublin-based brand, which is synonymous with the holiday across the globe, was left red-faced after some social media users noticed an issued with its Toronto Subway ads.
The Twitter users shared images of the ads complaining that the company had used a four leaf clover rather than a shamrock in its promotional materials.
For those not sure of the significant cultural differences derived from the Irish botanical specimens, the shamrock is a symbol of Irish heritage – much like the Scottish thistle or English rose. It is the symbol of Saint Patricks Day and more importantly has only three leaves.
The four leaf clover on the other hand represents good luck, but isn’t linked with the festival.
@jesseferreras This is the photo I originally took that sparked all this :-) cheers pic.twitter.com/k0ymDDcswl
— Aidan Ryan (@AidanRyan555) March 11, 2016
I thought if anyone would be able to get a shamrock right it would be @guinnesscanada. I guess not pic.twitter.com/7B0CeF4bqi
— Judith Gannon (@tenhours0) March 9, 2016
The ads were later removed.
@jesseferreras Hi @AidanRyan555 Can HuffPost use your image? Looks like ad i's removed now. I PM'd you on FB too. pic.twitter.com/HujKBuS1hr
— Mark Gray (@GrayzaMGG) March 11, 2016
Mr Ryan heard back from the brand on Facebook. It admitted that it made the gaffe “in the excitement of getting ready for next week”.
@GrayzaMGG @jesseferreras pic.twitter.com/JUUfnz8jy7
— Aidan Ryan (@AidanRyan555) March 11, 2016