Messages tell Irish in Canada to "go home"

The Irish have had to endure their fair share of shaming, what with the potato famine, the prevalence of red hair, and the insistent use of leprechauns to illustrate the Irish personality. Not to mention the "drink a lot of beer" thing.

So it’s little wonder Irish residents in Canada are taking issue with a truck driving around the streets of Toronto, telling them to “go home” and leave Canada.

The truck, and corresponding posters that are circulating around the city, are the brainchild of “The Social House,” a marketing agency based In Dublin that is looking to recruit star designers who have lived in other parts of the world.

The posters direct readers to visit pleaseleavecanada.com; that URL redirects to the firm’s home page, which features another ad urging Irish creatives abroad to come back to Ireland.

In a blog post on its site, the company said it’s going through a grown spurt and is looking for “brilliant misfits”. The Social House’s Colin Hart told an Irish news site that people think the campaign is amusing.

But not every Irish person who’s settled in Canada appreciates the wit of the campaign.

According to the Daily Edge, the campaign has resulted in over 25 applications from outside Ireland, so that’s probably worth the ill will of alienating everyone who didn’t appreciate the joke.