44 Comments

• billyjustin | Mar 23, 2011, 09:43 AM EDT

  sure i was in manhatten for paddys day, had a great time and met many americans who have family in the green land,as for Leprechauns on wine bottles, they should have gone the (hole hog) and made green wine, but they are too THICK, no offence.....Slainte from Limerick..Billy.

• juliwilson | Mar 22, 2011, 06:30 PM EDT

  White wine?? Huh. Really??

• hancock | Mar 22, 2011, 05:17 PM EDT

  Afraid?

• LiamLeprechaun | Mar 22, 2011, 04:47 PM EDT

  A formal letter of protest has been filed by the Leprechaun Union, as this wine was produced using non-organized, off-shore Leprechauns, from grapes picked and stomped by non-union, alien workers... (as is the case with most Wal-Mart products!) There is a trademark lawsuit filed by the leprechaun who's likeness was used on the bottle without his permission. (The release he signed was for paper plates and partyware!) Leprechauns Unite, show your solidarity.. boycott Wal-Mart - Spend your pot of gold at Union supported stores only!!!

• krissangel | Mar 22, 2011, 12:09 PM EDT

  And you expected class from Walmart?? Puh-leez! Walmart is known for it's cheapness and low standards. Just look at the majority of their clientele.

• Jimsales74 | Mar 17, 2011, 03:33 PM EDT

  I have no problem with the drunken leprechaun. I never met a sober one, have you? The leprechaun that lives under my back porch is constantly drunk. The thieving little bastard is always stealing my Powers as well. He's also never had a job. Who would hire him with that stupid hat anyway? He just laughs an tells me who needs a job when I've my crock 'o gold to keep me? So, yes leprechauns are all stinking lazy drunks as far as I can tell. So that doesn't bother me at all. What does bother me is the fact that they have poor little feller hawking white wine. No self respecting leprechaun would be caught dead drinking white wine. This is a travesty that must be stopped now!

• Redfrckle | Mar 17, 2011, 01:41 PM EDT

  So I was just talking to my cousin in Wicklow. She says it's true, the Irish hate the idea of the pub crawl. She says everyone knows the pub crawl is not an Irish tradition! The real Irish just stay in the same pub until it closes! ;) Éire go brách!

• Ajreaper | Mar 17, 2011, 01:39 PM EDT

  I am in Belfast this St Patricks day and as I passed by a Subway this morning the employees were dressed like ....... leprechaun's and rest assured the Pubs are booming (however I have yet to see a green beer anywhere). People all celebrate things a bit differently and I hardly think anyones doing it wrong because it's not the way you or I celebrate it. If they ain't hurting anyone then get down off the high horse and let it be might be the best thing to do.

• Redfrckle | Mar 17, 2011, 01:28 PM EDT

  To PaddyMac - I think the point many are making here is that you can't just blame the Americans for a non-Christian view of St. Patrick's day. Many of the American notions of "Irish traditions" were handed down to us from our Irish parents and grandparents. I don't know a single Irish American that truly believes all Irishmen are drunkards, and I can see how some would take offense at the winemakers poorly chosen artwork. But America is all about free speech, free enterprise, and freedom of religion. Trish Meyer is free to be offended by the image of a drunken leprechaun, and others are free to drink it. Some of us decorate our homes in green and others in orange. One thing I've found in our neck of the woods...today, we are all Irish! Éire go brách!

• Tisovertheglen | Mar 17, 2011, 12:40 PM EDT

  Mss Meyers should not be too dismayed at Walmart. Whatever bottles are left on the shelves and in the warehouse following St.Patrick's Day will be re-labelled for Easter with a daft bunny leaping over a daffodill.

• hertej | Mar 17, 2011, 11:54 AM EDT

  Oh, come on everybody who takes offense to this, I beleive walmart,s was just trying to celebrate the occasion in their way for their customers!!!

• PaddyMac | Mar 17, 2011, 11:50 AM EDT

  From the comments, it would seem like there's no hope in changing Americans view of St. Patrick's Day from a day to "get plastered on green beer" (while wearing tacky hats and shirts) to a day that would celebrate what it means to be Irish. After all, that's what they've made of our national holiday, and who are we to complain. Even the Irish are buying crap from China now. And then there's the argument that there's too many other issues to worry about, from Japan to the recession. Newsflash: There will always be something bigger and more newsworthy to worry about. Should we just give up on all the smaller problems in the world? The Irish are renowned the world over for our talented musicians, artists and writers, and yet we've let the crud decide how we celebrate our special day. The people in Libya and Egypt have shown us what it means to have pride in their country. They are willing to die for it. And yet we're not willing to send an email to a company or write a letter to the editor or complain to a manager in a store when they are selling tacky crap. If a company put out a wine bottle with a white man in black face to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, Jesse Jackson would be organizing a march on Washington! It IS possible to change perceptions and turn the tide, but only if we're all willing to do our bit and speak out. I'm of the mind that individuals can do great things, and a group of like-minded individuals can do amazing things. It's time that Irish people decide what they want St. Patrick's Day to be about - and complain when companies are disrespecting us. I dream of a day when it's a day to celebrate being Irish by sharing our music and heritage over a nice meal or a few drinks, and not just an excuse to get falling-down-drunk and perpetuate the notion that the Irish are just a bunch of alco's.

• Redfrckle | Mar 17, 2011, 11:31 AM EDT

  This isn't really any different than the jolly fat man in the red suit depicting Christmas, now, is it? I'm proud to be Irish, proud to be American, and love to celebrate my heritage with or without a drunken leprechaun. The Irish bartenders at our local pub don't have a problem putting a drop of green in the beer they serve, and the neon lighted sign in the window is a drunken leprechaun! They make a good living from the celebratory pub crawls. I'm much too old for all that now, but there is nothing new about it. This bar has been there over 30 years, since the owner came from over from Dublin. He's the first one I ever knew to serve green beer.

• madmilker | Mar 17, 2011, 09:46 AM EDT

  duh! Is Leslie Dach Irish? This couldn't be the reason they got kicked out of South Korea and Germany.... Maybe it has something to do with the port deal in Mexico... Maybe it came from their office in Italy.... Most likely the star in the name did it.

• hyattsville | Mar 17, 2011, 09:33 AM EDT

  Hmmm well I believe we have Irish publicans, and the owners of Irish bars worldwide, to thank for the perpetuation of this stereotype. I don’t think Walmart will be bragging that their rent for the year is paid from that puny display, unlike the many pubs throughout the States who will rake it in this week courtesy of St. Patrick and the drink fest associated with his feast day! Happy Day regardless…..

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 17, 2011, 07:48 AM EDT

  Haikued: Looks like you may need to go back to Reading Class. I'll spell it out for you, though really I shouldn't. I made no reference to Guinness advertizing. I condemned Irish Central for giving free publicity to a drive to sell nore alcohol. Get the difference? Why can't you ever get even the simplest things right? You really shouldn't post here till your literacy skills improve.

• sirpeter | Mar 16, 2011, 10:25 PM EDT

  The stories I grew up with, leprechaun's were happy,jolly little shoemakers.Harmless and if you caught one you got his pot of gold. Then Hollywood made them into serial killers in the horror movies and now they are drunken leprechaun's. Why does somebody have to turn everything into sh*t.

• KLennox | Mar 16, 2011, 09:16 PM EDT

  To RebelForce and others: SPD isn't ON it's way to being a day of drunkenness and stupidity - it's been there for decades. That said, it isn't the media, it's ignorant Americans, mainly, who don't get it about anything. [I am an American. ...] They claim anything as an excuse to do what they always do: behave badly. These same people would get drunk and stupid no matter what. They also celebrate Samhain as "Halloween" that Anglicized bastardization of a previously sacred day and just, generally, make bad decisions about life. None of this means I excuse the unthinking, beer-swilling [or rather, warm urine-like libations] lumps are really a waste of oxygen, no matter what they're doing. Slainte - Happy Saint Patrick's Day from America

• Gearoid4 | Mar 16, 2011, 08:39 PM EDT

  begorrah sorr! It's what St Pat's day is all about!

• srdools | Mar 16, 2011, 08:38 PM EDT

  What if walmart sold a tee-shirt that read;"I love watermelon" targeting blacks ? what would happen then?

• srdools | Mar 16, 2011, 08:34 PM EDT

  Walmart also sells tee-shirts that read; "hooligan" and "I love beer" all green and ready for SAINT SAINT SAINT Patrick's day.

• jacersagain | Mar 16, 2011, 07:30 PM EDT

  Niall, forget aabout drunk leprechauns tomorrow and think banshees. America’s NBC station, as part of their “Destination Truth” series, will broadcast live from Duckett’s Grove Castle in Co. Carlow, Ireland, as they film the night-time goings-on there, hoping the Castle’s banshee makes an appearance. You can watch it live on the internet at (wx3)syfy(dot)com/destinationtruth from 6pmEST.

• jamieLM | Mar 16, 2011, 06:53 PM EDT

  The labels were probably Made In China.

• reader1 | Mar 16, 2011, 05:46 PM EDT

  What I mean is, that kind of humor could be OK, but shouldn't be associated with St. Patrick's Day or with drunkenness.

• reader1 | Mar 16, 2011, 05:44 PM EDT

  I don't see a problem with the pot o' gold but the leprechaun's depiction of public drunkenness is low class. They could have had a regular guy in a black tux with a dark green bow tie, cummerbund, and handkerchief, with a shamrock cufflink showing as he holds the wine up to the light studying the color, or giving a toast or something. I wouldn't mind seeing a leprechaun on a bottle of green hot sauce though, while the girl on his arm would have hair of red flames and a bikini-top of four leaf clovers, as the usual red guy drops both his jaw and pitchfork.

• haikued2 | Mar 16, 2011, 05:36 PM EDT

  Seems like the purists and the rest of the world have a difference of opinion. Everyone I know love the Irish and completely understand that the celebration is a bit out of hand, but none of them have lost respect for the Irish because of it...any more than drinking margaritas on Cinco de Mayo or any other holiday celebration...

• haikued2 | Mar 16, 2011, 05:33 PM EDT

  Have to sign off and get to our local Walmart...thanks for the tip.

• haikued2 | Mar 16, 2011, 05:32 PM EDT

  Guinness, Mr George Dillon, is a major, major part of the economy of Dublin...and you think it shouldn't advertise???? Every consider that people are free to drink it or not and about 10million pints a day around the world says many choose to do so.

• haikued2 | Mar 16, 2011, 05:28 PM EDT

  Get a life. Get upset about things that are important, like the takeover of EU by Muslims or the collapse of the Irish economy or the destruction of so many homes and businesses in Japan by the tsunami or the problems in the Japanese nuclear power plant or the idiotic state of American public education. Leave the fun stuff alone...see you at the Pub on St Paddy's day but won't drink any alcohol so people wont think the Irish drink alcohol...dumb, dumb, dumb...I'll raise a Jameson's to you.

• antoman | Mar 16, 2011, 05:25 PM EDT

  Better than disappering in Armagh..what? :)

• antoman | Mar 16, 2011, 05:24 PM EDT

  @georgyboy..when they gonna ship you over here to Cork..and under Patricks bridge at that.

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 16, 2011, 05:18 PM EDT

  I posted on this site condemning its giving publicity to Guinness recently (the silly best pint competition). My posts (I repeated it just to be sure) were not published. The Irish are in thrall to alcohol, it's sad but true.

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 16, 2011, 05:15 PM EDT

  The Irish have no call to be so precious about these things. After all, if you go to Dublin you'll see T-shirts everywhere that depict Irish people as drunken fools. Maybe that opinion is valid, but the Irish department stores shouldn't be importing this garbage from China or wherever. I guess pride is not a word that goes with the word Irish any more.

• ohrightyeah | Mar 16, 2011, 05:02 PM EDT

  Time to get offended again for no reason. A leprechaun with a bottle of wine? Big deal. St Patrick's Day is a day of national pride, not just a religious thing.

• Ajreaper | Mar 16, 2011, 05:01 PM EDT

  Unfortunately outside of Ireland for 99% of folks there isa no religious connection made to St. Patricks day- it's an excuse to pound green beer (I mean really, green beer?) and behave like an idiot. They would not sell it if they could not sell it- folks will buy it, Walmart will make money and they'll be more of the same or worse next year.

• Rebelforce | Mar 16, 2011, 04:21 PM EDT

  It isn't just Walmart. You see this kind of deliberate trivialization of "St Patty's Day" in many places this time of year. Where St Patrick's Day used to be a day to celebrate Irish pride, it is now on it's way to becoming "Get Drunk" day thanks to a media that actively promotes these anti-Irish streotypes. Because when it comes to "Political Correctness" in America, it's "No Irish Need Apply".

• irishimport | Mar 16, 2011, 04:02 PM EDT

  Lent falling a week early this year has really put a damper in my Irish friends who usually go off the creator after Paddys day ;)

• tootsieok | Mar 16, 2011, 04:00 PM EDT

  Oh Wally World - What do you expect.... driving out all the small business... everywhere they go... I know controversy on that pro and con...You know when you are close to a wally you see the shopping bags and carts miles before the store on the sides of the roads. Real class showing have a bottle displayed with such enthusiasm to got loaded on an Irish holiday....which enthuses the kids.... Family store??? questionable... So whats for Black history month, Presidents day, Easter, Day of the Dead, April fools day.... Lots of Marketing going on hear.... can you see a drunk rabbit... that could me funnier than a leprechaun... how about a drunk faerie turning a wally world into a ______. I am done.... Life is a pig pin a times it is up to us to eat the slop.

• irishimport | Mar 16, 2011, 03:48 PM EDT

  No different in the media still referring to police wagons as paddy wagons which used to pick up the Irish drunks in NYC

• Niall O'Dowd | Mar 16, 2011, 03:07 PM EDT

  citizen we dont even get paid for google ads

• citizen69 | Mar 16, 2011, 02:59 PM EDT

  Yeah Niall but you'll take the money from them without much thought about their content or suitability... much like Walmart. Tell me this, do you find people who wear leprechaun hats & beards at St. Patrick day parades offensive also?

• Niall O'Dowd | Mar 16, 2011, 02:48 PM EDT

  citizen that is a google ad we have no control over --wise up

• antoman | Mar 16, 2011, 02:38 PM EDT

  Looks like piss to me.Pubs over here must store patrons piss over the weekend.Bottle it.And ship it over to you lot as wine?WTF!

• citizen69 | Mar 16, 2011, 02:25 PM EDT

  On this VERY web page as i type this IrishCentral have an advert for free St Patrick's Day cards featuring DRUNKEN LEPRECHAUNS!! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Get your own house in order if you are going to be offended! Idiots!