IKEA makes an embarrassing advertising blunder

Ikea
(Image credit: Ikea)

From Amazon's Hitler-esque app icon to Sony's upside-down PS5, we've seen plenty of brand blunders over the last few months. But one of the most embarrassing examples still belongs to Ikea, who served up a pretty huge advertising gaff last year (and on a giant billboard on the front of a flagship store, no less). Suffice to say, it didn't enter our top billboard advertising list.

Found by a Twitter user in Bahrain, the mistake concerns a translation on an advert for an IKEA bed (see the tweet below). The ad reads 'Create your perfect night’s sleep' in English, followed by (what should be) the Arabic translation. But, it seems it was the team translator who was feeling a bit bleary eyed, as the Arabic script actually says 'Same text, but in Arabic'. Oops.

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Georgia Coggan

Georgia is lucky enough to be Creative Bloq's Editor. She has been working for Creative Bloq since 2018, starting out as a freelancer writing about all things branding, design, art, tech and creativity – as well as sniffing out genuinely good deals on creative technology. Since becoming Editor, she has been managing the site and its long term strategy, helping to shape the diverse content streams CB is known for and leading the team in their own creativity.

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