In 2022, if you Google the term “The Irish are known for…”, the suggested search results paint Irish people in a really negative light. At EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, our job is to challenge negative perceptions of Ireland and showcase the incredibly profound impact that people from this small nation have had on the world. 

In our ‘This Is Not Us’ campaign we created a CGI character - Paddy McFlaherty - using Google’s predictive search results as the basis. We didn’t create Paddy in our likeness, but rather to encourage conversations around Irish identity.

Paddy’s image sparked a debate - he was mobbed on Twitter, lambasted on Reddit and kept popping up on WhatsApp. He was critiqued by radio hosts, celebrated by TV stars, and discussed over many pints in the pub. Comedians joked that they wanted his shirt, but for every person who said “I went to school with that lad”, another would identify “Ah here, we’re better than this.”

Off the back of this campaign, EPIC is outperforming the category, with visitor numbers and website visits. That means many more people are now seeing the Irish as the inventors, poets, designers, leaders and changemakers we are, rather than the louts we’re suggested to be. If more people visit EPIC, future Google search suggestions will be far more positive and accurate.