Inventing the Pubs of Ireland: The Importance of Being Postcolonial
Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol. 15, pp. 41–51, February 2007
11 Pages Posted: 15 Feb 2012 Last revised: 27 Feb 2013
Date Written: February 10, 2007
Abstract
Just as we hate it when our friends become successful, nations hate it when other nations become successful. Take the American nation with its perennial list of world-leading brands, its domination of the world’s markets and its monopoly of the world’s leading marketing journals. America is marketing in excelsis. It is nothing less than a well-oiled, capitalist machine churning along at full-pelt and in perfect rhythm with the needs of the marketplace — if Boo sinks, Google floats; if Superman dies, Spiderman lives; if Martha gets jail time, Oprah gets primetime; if Whitney wanes, Britney gains. America is the archetypal example for all aspiring democracies to follow; no country does marketing bigger or better, bolder or brasher, louder or prouder. Academically, its grip on the dissemination of marketing thought is of Microsoftian proportions. All must hail the God of American Marketing, quiver at its omnipotence (possessing all power), cower at its omniscience (having all knowledge), tremble in its omnipresence (existing everywhere). When it cracks the whip, we, the rest of the world, must skip…. Don’t you just hate it?
Keywords: Postcolonial, Ireland, Irishness, branding
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