Ten unbelievably epic St Patrick's Day fails to wilt your shamrock

IF you thought novelty hats, drunken stereotypes and the term 'St Patty’s Day' were the worst faux pas about St Patrick's Day, think again.

March 17 may be the one day of the year when everyone is allowed to be a little bit Irish, but not everyone gets it right.

Whether it’s people just trying to get into the spirit of the occasion, or companies trying to capitalise on the celebrations, there have been some serious St Patrick’s Day gaffes.

Here, we run down 10 St Patrick’s howlers that would wilt your shamrock.

Beer Bother

Many people’s first thoughts when they think of St Patrick’s Day are ‘the Irish’ and ‘drinking’.

What better way to mark the day then, than by releasing an Irish-themed beer?

While it may have sounded like a good idea, basing it on the Great Famine wasn’t so smart.

Australian brewing companies Shark Island and Willie the Boatman released an ale last year called Famine and the Crown.

The label for the beer depicted a mother holding a child while a ship sailed off in the background.

To be fair, Shark Island owner Dion Dickinson appeared genuinely remorseful, admitting they got it wrong.

He had wanted to create a less clichéd product and drew inspiration from the song The Fields of Athenry.

The biggest crime though was probably the flavour – caramel choc Irish cream ale.

Statistically speaking 

Look, we get the Irish drinking stereotype isn’t going to go away, but there’s a time and a place.

So using St Patrick’s Day to flag up statistics on alcohol abuse probably wasn't the greatest idea that the OECD think tank ever had.

To then highlight Ireland’s ranking in green and putting a St Patrick’s Day sticker and shamrocks on there was an even worse one.

The OECD’s heart may have been in the right place, but their 2016 tweet on St Patrick's Day itself was reminiscent of the tired cliché of the Irish being inextricably linked to alcohol.

They quickly apologised for any offence caused and deleted the tweet.

Bud Idea

In 2015, beer brand Bud Light got into the spirit of the day by tweeting an image of five girls dressed in green with the company slogan, Up For Whatever.

However the text accompanying the tweet was accused of having sexual assault undertones.

It read: “On #StPatricksDay you can pinch people who don’t wear green. You can also pinch people who aren’t #UpForWhatever.”

The reaction, removal and remorse was swift.

A spokesman said: “We understand that some people misunderstood our St Patrick’s Day post and we want to apologise to everyone who was offended.”

Leaf it out

Look, we’ve nothing against the four-leaf clover. It’s lovely. But it has nothing to do with St Patrick and has no particular significance in Ireland.

The three-leafed shamrock, however, was reputedly used by the saint to represent the Holy Trinity and has long been used as a symbol of Ireland.

So Donald Trump’s St Patrick’s Day MAGA baseball caps, which had a four-leaf clover embroidered on the back, just left people baffled.

Bizarrely, following the backlash over the 2017 headgear (which cost a staggering $50), the President’s merchandising team released a 2018 version.

As they (don't) say in Ireland

President Trump hasn’t had the best of luck with the Irish.

During last year’s St Patrick’s Day White House Reception, he recited a proverb that he had “heard for many years”.

It was lovely, something about friends. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Irish.

In Trump’s defence, he didn’t actually claim it was an Irish proverb, although that may have been the implication, given the occasion.

Furthermore, the backlash was pretty extreme, with some even claiming it was actually a Nigerian poem.

However this assertion was somewhat misleading, while the quote itself is widely attributed on the internet as being Irish.

It isn’t, of course, but you can see how a White House speechwriter armed with Google may have got confused.

We think the Donald deserves a bye here.

Criminal decision

Back in the 19th century, the Irish who emigrated to Britain after the Famine were speciously associated with “criminality and disorder”.

This was fuelled by the police’s tendency to target the poorest communities, which included the Irish, thus creating an over-representation of Irish people in prisons.

Fast-forward to present day and those associations were unwittingly recalled after an ill-judged tweet from Lewisham Police.

To mark St Patrick’s Day 2016, they tweeted an image of handcuffs in the shape of a four-leaf clover (yes, we know, see above).

The tweet was clearly innocent in nature, a clever composition using handcuffs.

However the association of the feast day of Ireland’s foremost patron saint with arrests provoked anger, and the force deleted the tweet and apologised.

Stout of order

Now if anyone isn’t going to make the four-leaf faux pas, surely it’s Guinness.

The stout was created in Dublin and even has a harp as its logo, so they should know a thing or two about Irish symbols.

Like it or not, many bar staff outside of Ireland will even top your pint of the black stuff with a shamrock.

However Guinness Canada made the clover cock-up in the run-up to St Patrick’s Day 2016, after posters featured the plant next to a maple leaf, the national symbol of Canada.

We love you Canada, but come on, how would you like it if we called your logo a sycamore leaf?!

Guinness apologised and pledged to remove the posters.

Cockney Cock-up

Many an Irish actor and those of Irish descent have graced Albert Square – Pauline McLynn, Patrick Bergin, Shane Richie, Todd Carty, Sean Maguire, Shona McGarty, as well all the actors that played Pauline Fowler’s extended but short-lived Irish family, the Flahertys.

The Irish Post has even made an appearance in EastEnders, featuring on the newspaper rack at the Minute Mart.

You’d think, then, they’d know that St Patrick’s Day is on March 17.

As the Square turned green, with a knees-up at the Queen Vic, a close-up of a mobile phone displayed the date as February 17.

Still, who wouldn’t be up for two St Patrick’s Days a year?

Rooney's flagging

Wayne Rooney, whose paternal grandparents are Irish, has always maintained he never considered turning out for the Boys in Green.

However the former England international and his wife Coleen remain proud of their Irish roots, with the latter even dressing son Kai in an Ireland kit for St Patrick’s Day in 2012.

Wayne, though, got a little bit confused last year when he posted a picture of himself on Instagram with former Manchester United teammates John O’Shea and Jonny Evans.

Instead of including an Irish Tricolour in the message, he included an Ivory Coast flag emoji.

He soon corrected it.

Shaken up

If you’re going to get St Patrick’s Day wrong, do so in style.

Promoting its seasonal Shamrock Shake last year, McDonald’s produced a cliché-ridden ad featuring a red-headed man playing one of the milkshakes like an instrument.

The musician was backed by green fields, sheep, and a rainbow that no doubt led to a pot of gold.

Unfortunately, the sound emanating from the shake was that of the bagpipes, a Scottish instrument.

The man was also wearing a tartan cap, and although only seen from the waist up, was probably rocking a sporran and kilt as well.

The pièce de résistance however, was the appearance of prehistoric monument Stonehenge.

Yep, Stone-f******-henge, in Wiltshire, England.