Everyone knows that men are like whining children. Or at least that's the premise of Mänland, a "male-oriented" holding area that was recently tested by an Ikea store in Sydney, Australia. Any resemblance to the children's play area, Småland, is not at all coincidental.
The founder of IKEA — which once seemed like the most wholesome of all multinational companies — was apparently a Nazi. At this point, basically every retail chain is tainted with some sort of scandal. Here's a helpful guide.
The Italian newspaper Il Giornale, owned by Silvio Berlusconi, has taken exception to an Ikea ad depicting a gay couple. An editorial asked, "What's behind all this? It's not awareness of gay rights for gay couples. It's just a brazen marketing strategy." Also, according to the Daily Mail,
We're not sure what makes this Austrian Ikea commercial less likely to air in the US: the fact that it gleefully depicts infidelity, or its suggestion that male bisexuality exists.
To film a commercial, IKEA released 100 cats in its Wembley, England store after hours. Shoppers were "unaware that half an hour before, 100 felines were roaming free in the shop" ...until they found a hairball in their new bedspread.
[Sydney, January 31. Image via Getty]
Though assembling furniture is stereotypically a man's job, according to Ikea's German chief, Petra Hesser, women are actually better at putting together the company's flat-pack furniture. "Men never look at the directions and have the most problems with construction because they always think they can do that," said…
British Vogue reports that seemingly-immortal fashion designer Giorgio Armani is reluctant to partner up on a line with H&M because doing so communicates a message to the shopper that the product is low-brow and no good. And this, in turn, makes the consumers "feel like schmucks."
