The title
of this post could be the answer to one of the Double Jeopardy questions. Or it could be one of those rhyming songs for kids on Sesame Street,
since none of these things belongs with the others.
In an
outrageous display of cultural insensitivity, not to mention bad taste, Ikea is
running an ad in Kuwait which features Filipino’s dressed in Swedish wait-staff costumes. It’s surprising that Ikea, which normally is
attuned to cultural distinctions in its various markets, would make such a
striking misstep. It’s true that many of
the Gulf States rely on foreign workers to fill lower income jobs including restaurant
service. But the idea of showing people
who are obviously not Europeans in kitschy Old Europe costumes is both
degrading and ineffective.
What’s
interesting about the episode is that it was raised to US
consciousness via, you guessed it, the blogosphere. AdRants picked up on the issue from Tata
Botata, a blogger who’s a self-described Kuwaiti Art Director (e.g. someone
who designs marketing communications materials). It’s just one more example of the breadth
and depth of content being developed, edited and critiqued by the blogosphere.
Ikea would
do well to harness some of these collective insights before they design their
next ad campaign. Or maybe they can just
hire Tata Botata.
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