EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum Uncovers AI's Negative Portrayal of the Irish

The Public House’s continuation of last year's ‘This Is Not Us' campaign for EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum scrutinises the prevalence of negative Irish stereotypes found in modern technology and popular culture, with particular focus on 2023’s most talked about topic, Artificial Intelligence. 

The campaign runs across social, digital and OOH, with a specific emphasis on Dublin Bus T-Sides, and Tour Bus Rears targeting tourists on the streets of Dublin.

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum exists to demonstrate that the Irish have left a powerful and positive impact on the world. Their museum experience shares the unforgettable stories of those who left Ireland’s shores, influencing and shaping the world along the way. EPIC know that the Irish are more than just stereotypes – we are inventors, poets, designers, leaders and changemakers. Our music, literature, culture, sport, food and dance attract millions of people to our country each year.

Following research, it was found that when you prompt the world’s most used AI image generator to show you an ‘Irish man’, the results were, without exception, full of outdated stereotypes. The sad reality is that even though we have come a long way in the last number of decades, popular culture and technology still perpetuates negative stereotypes of the Irish. 

During the creative development for the campaign, a countless amount of these AI images were generated, with every result containing references to drinking, anger, aggression, ugliness, or leprechaun-like styling. While all bad, a selection of the most hideous images were selected to become the faces of the campaign across OOH, Social and Digital. The (anti)hero images.

However, rather than exclusively taking aim at AI in the online film, the potential reasons for AI's negative portrayal of the Irish are explored, with references to the wider pop culture landscape of both the past and present day. This hero film creates a more immersive and comprehensive campaign, which mirrors the museum’s immersive and comprehensive account of who the Irish really are. 

Aileesh Carew, CEO, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, said, "While being Irish cannot possibly be summed up in a single image, we were surprised to find that A.I. generated images of the Irish are full of outdated stereotypes. At EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, we know that being Irish is a celebration that extends across the globe. We hope that this campaign will inspire people to look beyond stereotypes wherever they encounter them, and create meaningful conversations about the pitfalls and potentials of A.I."

Dillon McKenna, creative director at the Public House said “EPIC has been doing incredible work changing negative perceptions of Irish emigration in the minds of consumers worldwide. Unfortunately these negative stereotypes have now made their way into tech algorithms, including artificial intelligence, as demonstrated by the imagery created for this campaign. Last year we created Paddy McFlaherty based on Google’s suggested prompts of what Irish people are known for. This year, because of the advancement of AI we didn’t even have to take creative licence to create our poster boy. We simply typed ‘Irish Man’ into image creation software and AI did the rest. It seems like for all its benefits, artificial intelligence is churning out the same age-old stereotypes of the Irish. Hopefully in the future, big tech can clean up their act when it comes to lazy generalisations of the Irish.” 

The campaign for The Public House continues a successful year with the growing independent creative agency’s clients include Jameson, FBD, Cadbury, and Irish Independent. The agency is known for its strategic rigour and creative edge that delivers for its clients, with a principle that ‘Boring Doesn’t Sell’.