Revenue's tea lady panned
The Inland Revenue's advertising campaign to encourage people to fill out their tax returns online might have had the reverse effect by forcing people to switch off their television sets.
The advert featuring Father Ted’s batty tea lady and housemaid Mrs Doyle has been voted the most aggravating on television in 2001.
A poll of 1,000 people for Marketing magazine revealed that 39% found Mrs Doyle’s droning was the ‘most abrasive, aggravating, disturbing, infuriating, annoying and cheesy TV ads of the year’.
It even beat the cheesy Ferrero Rocher advert, renowned for its blatant cliches.Mrs Doyle was brought in last July to replace retired popular cartoon character Hector the tax inspector, who had served the Revenue since 1996.
The good news for the British public however is that Mrs Doyle, played by actress Pauline McLynn, is to step down once the 31 January deadline for returns has passed.
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Go home, go home, go home, Mrs Doyle