Watch: Rural pub's 12th annual Christmas ad highlights farmer isolation
A Christmas ad for JJ Hough's Singing Pub titled 'Under the Influencer' has been highlighting farmer isolation and loneliness as it gains traction on social media.
The pub, which is based in Banagher, Co. Offaly, has been making annual Christmas advertisements for the last 12 years.
Agriland spoke to the owner of JJ Hough's Singing Pub, Ger Hough to find out what inspired the theme for this year's Christmas ad.
Hough said: "Its in Banagher, Co. Offaly so obviously the bulk of our clientele in the winter are local farmers.
"We’ve had a lot of local customers that passed away unfortunately this year, and there’s seats they would have had every day.
"You know the same guy would sit in his stool, they’d nearly have a name on their stool, and we’ve lost several of these customers that would come in every day.
"So all of this kind of fed into the idea for the Christmas ad."
Christmas ad
Hough outlined that he normally writes the script for the Christmas ad, but this year his friend Harry Prendergast wrote the narrative.
The publican explained that he used his father as the main character in the advertisement, as it is always a family affair.
He said: "We have a zero budget.
"The music in the ad is my cousin Ultan Conlon - he’ll always does a song for me, either an original or a cover.
"This year he covered 'You’re So Vain'."
According to Hough, the building was a pub as far back as 1640. His grandad then bought it in the 1940s, with his father then taking over, and himself in 2017.
Hough explained that he always had an interest in film-making, and used his pub as a launch pad as an outlet for his creativity.
"Every year, they [advertisements] always get great feedback.
"They’re always very personal, and always local themes," the publican added.
