Whatever the motivations behind the current chaos in Britain it would be in our considered opinion unwise for Ireland to think that we are far away from similar conflict.
In fact in our KDNINE insights booklet for 2011 (available free on our website) we predicted large scale civil unrest as early as November last year.
This was based on the growing anger we encounter in focus group research nationwide particularly among younger people.
The potential for conflict comes when this anger is channeled around an event or sparking point. The general sense of injustice is growing and the Irish state apparatus is rightly or wrongly seen to be firstly concerned with defending the rich and the economically disastrous status quo.
What is particularly disturbing from a marketing point of view in the UK is that the anger is often turned against certain brands who are seen to represent big business or globalisation. So in some ways the riots are an attack on Brands and what they represent. So when the Irish rioters approach perhaps best not to hide in Starbucks or AIB.