Ikea Blog

Archive for November, 2009

Ikea was acused of cruelty towards animals because it sells boloney made from reindeer meat. The militants for the animals` rights claims that the modern methods of hunting causes a lot of physical and psychic stress to the animals and Ikea should eliminate the reindeer meat products from their stores. Ikea sells reindeer boloney in batons of 130 grams with about 2 pounds in its chain of stores. Ikea was asked to withdraw the boloney because of the cruel exploitation of these wild animals by the hunters. The Ikea company answered that it tries to respect the ethical standards.

For those waiting for the 2010 Ikea surprises the news about the 2010 catalogue will certainly make them happy. The Swedish company invested 1.3 million euros to produce and distribute the products catalogue that will be available from September 1, 2009 till August 31, 2010. The Ikea 2010 catalogue, which will be distributed for free, has 376 pages and includes 3.200 products from the about 8.500 articles available in store. The Ikea clients will be delighted by the reduced prices, new products, the classical products available in new models and colors, so the Ikea shopping in 2010 will be again, very pleasant!

Bio Ikea in Italy means that the employees of Ikea from Padova, Italy, can buy ecological food straight from the producers, due to a project of the IABA (the Italian association for biological agriculture). Through this project, in which IABA implied more than 200 bio farmers from the entire country, to the Ikea` s employees are offered different processed products but also fruits, vegetables, fresh meat and lactates. This is just the ‘pilot episode’ of the project, because IABA wants to ‘feed’ in eco way about 8.000 employees from 14 Italian Ikea stores. The scope is to make people buy the bio products.

Your books number is bigger and you don` t have enough space for them? Or you simply need a new bookcase? Then Ikea is the perfect place to find one! The Bergsbo bookcase, for example, is available in two colors, has doors from glass and 8 shelves from glass are included, as well as 4 adjustable and 2 stationary shelves. The Billy bookcase is available in 5 colors and different designs. If needed, the adjustable shelves can be added. The Liatorp bookcase has drawers, 3 fixed shelves and 4 adjustable shelves. In the lower drawer you can put up to 72 CDs.

For your bedroom Ikea has various textiles such as: cushions, throws, inner cushions, cushion covers, blankets, bedspreads, triple cushion covers, neck rolls and lumber cushions. The newest Ikea bedroom textiles include the Komisk triple cushion cover, available in 3 colors , made from 100% cotton and with a zipper that makes it easier to be removed.

The question ‘Is the Ikea manual sexist?’ appeared because in the instruction manual the only ones who put the stuff together are the men. This detail made the Ikea company to be accused of sexism. The answer of the company was that they were thinking about the Muslim customers who may be offended to see that the manual labor is made by the women. The answer wasn` t satisfactory enough but the funny part is that there are voices saying that no matter the sex, the nationality, the race or the religion, the instructions are still hard to be understood.

The Ikea benches are divided in storage benches, work benches, TV benches, benches with wall cabinets, kitchen benches, corner TV-benches, benches with shoes storages, benches with backrests and benches with legs. A bench with shoe storage can be bought from the Skar collection, is available in two colors and can hold 6 pairs of shoes. The Besta bench is available in 4 colors, has adjustable feet for a better stability. You can use it as TV bench, too, with casters or legs. The Jesper bench has a removable cover that can be washed in the washing machine, the cover being 100% cotton.

Ikea assembly instructions are offered by the company in order to help the clients to assembly the bought products by their own. The manual with instructions can be found on the company` s website and also downloaded. The instructions are listed in the alphabetic order. For example, if you just bought an Eina wardrobe and need to know how to assembly it, you must go to the E letter of the manual and you find all the needed instructions. If you take the manual from Internet then you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader program to open it.

There were some Ikea banned commercials. One was banned for being too violent, one for having a sexual improper message and one for having a sexist message. In the first one, a girl is being stabbed in her back with a fork that was improper situated. The message is that you should use the Ikea furniture to keep order in the house. In the second one, a baby plays with a dildo, the message being the same: keep things in the places with Ikea furniture. The third shows a girl trying to eat spaghetti but ends taking lace into her mouth.

The Ikea bar stools are available form different collections, such as: Malte, Agne, Anssi, Bosse, Hugo or Franklin. There are bar stools with backrest and without backrest, foldable stools, from different materials like wood or steel. The Hugo bar stool is stackable so it will not occupy space when will not be used. Clothes or begs can be put on the stool` s backrest. The footrest is included. The Bosse bar stool is made from solid wood, has a hole in the middle being easy to be moved. The stool has a footrest and the material is renewable.