Poor Harry_the_Spider had to spend the day there – on a Sunday, no less, in the run-up to Christmas. And he couldn’t enjoy the meatballs due to being a vegetarian, but we won’t harass him for that. 😉

Whatever the case, though, when you consider what IKEA is, however imperfectly, it could be argued that it manifests everything that modern Europe is meant to be:

1. Egalitarian – it makes stylish furniture available to all
2. Anti-discriminatory – it is a place that actively encourages every sort of customer: straight, gay, single, coupled, young, old…
3. Accessible – it doesn’t matter if you are in the dreariest industrial heartland or the most fashionable city in Europe, IKEA is there.
4. Affordable – further to the accessibility question, that IKEA stuff is so affordable means that anyone can think of outfitting their dwelling with new goods.
5. Environmentally friendly
6. Ethically engaged

This is a non-exhaustive list, obviously, but there are clearly some good points to be made regarding IKEA and what it does, even though many of you may hate it. Indeed, even if it fails in what it purports to be, the influence it exerts must shape people’s minds according to its positive aspirations.

So, gloves off. 😀

Ethically engaged – very good at marketing.

IKEA is OK, but also just a bit shit.

The meatballs are good.

1. Egalitarian – it makes stylish furniture available to all
2. Anti-discriminatory – it is a place that actively encourages every sort of customer: straight, gay, single, coupled, young, old…
3. Accessible – it doesn’t matter if you are in the dreariest industrial heartland or the most fashionable city in Europe, IKEA is there.
4. Affordable – further to the accessibility question, that IKEA stuff is so affordable means that anyone can think of outfitting their dwelling with new goods.
5. Environmentally friendly
6. Ethically engaged

1. Stylish? Define stylish.
2. Accepted generally.
3. Only one store in Wales, see above for the Anti-discrimminatory point.
4. Affordable (so is McDonalds).
5&6. Provide evidence.

Stylish? Define stylish.

remember MFI in the 1980s, before Ikea arrived – not that 🙂

^^ this, well put Sir (cptsqsw)

Some people have short memories of just how terrible cheap (and/or) flat-pack furniture was before IKEA came along.

Their toilet seats are freakishly huge

Some people have short memories of just how terrible cheap (and/or) flat-pack furniture was before IKEA came along.

That wasn’t the question.

3. Accessible – it doesn’t matter if you are in the dreariest industrial heartland or the most fashionable city in Europe, IKEA is there.

We haven’t got one

Ethically engaged

East German political prisoners appear not to have thought so.

simon_g – Member

Some people have short memories of just how terrible cheap (and/or) flat-pack furniture was before IKEA came along.

Sat at my 20yr old MFI desk that has moved with me about eight times.
£30, not in sale.
😀

Didn’t IKEA use slave/forced labour. Not that ethical

This place never ceases to amaze me at the banal nonsense that people get all adither about. An endless cycle of high horsesedness and way too much time to think!

On the subject of ethics and IKEA i would encourage you to look at some of IKEAs current work http://www.ikeafoundation.org

Well I worked there for 5 years and whilst they go on about the values and how much of a family company they are, it is just a business and it looks good from the outside, but I could write a book about how miserable it is to work there.
Very poor management, with very little knowledge, mostly employed from other European stores.
I think the brand has done very well, but it has done so by destroying competitors and ripping off good designs at the cheapest possible price.

5. Environmentally friendly

…though we could argue that encouraging people to buy cheap new stuff instead of something second hand and giving it a lick of paint isn’t really environmentally friendly.

Perhaps that’s a debate more about consumerism generally, but ikea certainly plays its part…

I still don’t get what this has to do with Spit the Dog.

Lemonysam “I still don’t get what this has to do with Spit the Dog”

Bravo sir, bravo indeed

…though we could argue that encouraging people to buy cheap new stuff instead of something second hand and giving it a lick of paint isn’t really environmentally friendly.

Perhaps that’s a debate more about consumerism generally, but ikea certainly plays its part…

+1

On the subject of ethics and IKEA i would encourage you to look at some of IKEAs current work http://www.ikeafoundation.org

Whilst obviously EUR 100 million is not to be sniffed at, when you consider how much goes into the foundation – see here for an old analysis – and how much tax has been saved, it is less impressive. Some would argue its equivalent to “greenwash”.

The bloke who started it, and built it up into a successful company, did so while permanently pissed

There’s hope for us all 😀