Everyone knows IKEA. Even in Malaysia, people visit IKEA daily, whether buying furniture or eating at the IKEA food court. Luckily, this ad I’m going to share with you guys today was not implemented in Malaysia ’cause or else I’ll be like, ‘what the-??’
In 2018, the IKEA magazine ad in Sweden surprised its customers when there was a built-in pregnancy test attached to their ad in a magazine. The reason for this is that if you’re pregnant, you can get a discount from IKEA. There’s a lot to talk about in this interesting ad.
According to a report in AdWeek, this creative advertisement was produced by the Swedish advertising firm Åkestam Holst for publication in the Amelia women’s magazine. In collaboration with Mercene Labs, they developed a pee strip technology that will reveal a new price for cribs if the outcome is favourable.
First and foremost, just look at the crib in the middle of the page. Basically, I feel like the crib was being put that way, with the toys, the towel, and the mattress ready for the baby, to attract parents when they see this very cute crib. This portrays how this ad is actually trying to pique people’s interest through their emotions(pathos).
‘Peeing on this ad may change your life.’
This was written in bold and placed quite center on the page, making it totally visible to the readers. I found it funny at first when I saw this ad because the main thing that IKEA is trying to highlight here is that peeing could change your life. How can this ‘change your life’? Well, I guess knowing that you’re pregnant would actually change your life totally, hahaha. You can also see it says ‘WHERE LIFE HAPPENS’ at the bottom of the page. This is actually an ongoing campaign by IKEA since 2017, but I thought this was funny because, yes, a LIVE totally happening here.
In the original ad, you can see the price of the crib, which is 995. However, if you’re pregnant and pee on the built-in pregnancy test, the discounted price will appear in red, signaling that you’re positive pregnant. I thought the choice of red was clever as it’s the same as the lines on a real pregnancy test.
You can see the process through this video of the pee ad.
https://vimeo.com/250248401?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=1755241
Overall, I wanted to say that this is a creative idea, but it’s also kind of unsettling because picture working at IKEA and having to prepare to collect pee-covered coupons and have expectant mothers carry them about in their purses. It sounds like a dreadful time for everyone involved.
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ikea-ad-pregnancy-test-crib-discount-254649
Honestly I find this hilarious! I mean, its disgusting, but perhaps they were going with the thought “There is no such thing as bad publicity”? IKEA is known for having outlandish ads, especially the Swedish ones.
This advertisement has a comedic sense to it but I don’t get how someone would think this promotes the company..