St. Patrick’s Day Irish dancing flashmob video goes viral - VIDEO

Posted on Friday, April 29, 2011 at 10:22 AM

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St. Patrick's Day: the feast day of Ireland's patron saint, the emblem of Irish culture and religion, and now the subject of one of the most globally shared videos in the month of March, according to marketing magazine Contagious.

The video ad featured a flashmob of Irish dancers and was orchestrated by Discover Ireland to celebrate Irish culture and publicize its tourism industry. A flashmob, for those not in the viral-induced know, is a sudden gathering of a large group of people that, unbeknownst to anyone except the participants, join together in a seemingly impromptu performance.

This particular flashmob garnered more than 200,000 hits on YouTube in its first day; currently the video stands with over 775,000 views and continues to climb. Reactions to the video have been overwhelmingly positive, and an apparent success for the Irish Tourism board which has been vehemently enticing visitors to the Emerald Isle over the past couple of years to combat the nation's fiscal crisis.

The video has not only gained many fans, but it has also poised the Irish tourism board as competition in the world of viral advertising against global giants like Adidas and Volkswagen. The video was produced in hopes of drawing Aussie visitors to Ireland, reversing the trend that has seen thousands of Irish flock to Australia over the past couple of decades.

One person who believes that the video will succeed in doing so is Tourism Ireland's Caroline Brunel who stated "(the video) captured people’s imagination, reminding those who have been to Ireland what amazing and rich culture the country has to offer as well as inspiring people who have never been to discover a unique experience."

No matter what the outcome of the video may be, Brunel makes an interesting point that for an island nation of only five million people, Irish culture surely has a way of making itself global.

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suzandpej | May 13, 2011, 10:55 AM EDT

I love these people...each and every one of them. Ireland is the BEST place in the world!! Even with all it's problelms...it's Ireland, unique unto itself.

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hooligan6a | May 11, 2011, 10:24 AM EDT

Love it.

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CEILIMAN | May 10, 2011, 04:17 PM EDT

GreatDance well organised,and so many young people.It is a shame that with so many young people involved that we cannot preserve our Ceili Dancing heritage,which is now almost dead in Ireland.All these young people are lost to the Ceili Dance.?Why,because the Irish Dance Commmission does nothing to encourage them to take part in the Ceili dance Culture,All thhhhey are interested in is the glitz and the glamour,Lots of Money for Some! Teachers have to get their Certs. through teaching Ceili but after that ,!forget it!,Why must we let the Ceili DIE? the set dancing fraternity do more to promote their stuff,,Irish Dance Commission Nill""So So sad.

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joanngall | May 05, 2011, 09:41 AM EDT

This is lovely! I wish some group would do this in NYC...maybe Penn Station or Grand Central. What fun!!

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