IKEA advertisement

Victoria Yeseul Yue
Terryl Atkins
VISA 1500-01
3 October 2022

Analysis of IKEA advertisement

This is an analysis of an IKEA advertisement that is relevant to greenwashing. Advertisements show people what they desire to lead to consumption, therefore sometimes what they show could be unrealistic, false, and exaggerated. Greenwashing is one of the examples of that feature of advertisement. Greenwashing can be defined as “a communication practice that consists of the deliberate and volun- tary disclosure of environmentally misleading (or even false) information by a firm and which the public understands to be deceptive” (Ferrón‐Vílchez et al. 860).

IKEA is known as one of the most environmentally conscientious companies in the world. It has made a commitment to sustainability by launching its “People and Planet Positive” sustainability strategy (Fernandes et al. 1116).

This advertising that I attached is encapsulating that commitment. It has also been used as a bus stop poster. IKEA is the company that mainly sells furniture. But the focal point of this advertisement is a glass and straws on the right side of the photo. Kitchen appliances like these glass and straws are also what they design and sell, but they don’t represent the company and what they mainly have. Therefore, this advertising seems to focus on what they want to tell, not the products. This advertisement is still, and it shows a room which has a large window, and a stunning sea is seen through the window.

There is a glass with two bamboo straws in it on the right, and a dish with slices of lemon and mint leaves on the left. In the bottom, IKEA logo is placed, and a phrase ‘the wonderful everyday’ is next to it. A big Whale is swimming in the sea in the back of this picture but only its tail is visible in the photo. Also, there is a little sailing vessel figure on the right side of the glass. This realistic photo has things that we can commonly see in daily life.

The color of this advertisement is mainly blue and yellow. First, there are blue and yellow in the logo of IKEA. Secondly, the bamboo straws are yellow and the beverage in the glass is sky blue and the sea in the back is just the same color as the beverage. Third, the dish on the left is turquoise which is a mixture of blue and green, and the slices of lemon are yellow and bright orange. The collaboration of blue and yellow support this advertising’s fresh, cool, and crisp atmosphere. The clear sky and reflection of the sun on the sea show that it is a sunny afternoon. Also, ice cubes in the glass create an atmosphere of summer.

The focus of the photo is on the glass and the bamboo straws in it. Also, the boldest font in the upper left says, ‘help the ocean one straw at a time’. It shows that ‘straw’ is the main topic. The whale in the back can remind people that helping the ocean is also protecting nature and animals like whales. Also it is telling people that they can do something that can slow the effects of climate change such as using a reusable straw. Under the boldest font, it says ‘fortune favours the frugal’. It seems to be one of the mottos of this company. It can be interpreted that using straws is kind of frugal, but this frugal thing can give fortune to people. Also this photo appeals the price of the bamboo straws, and it is ￡2.75. The name of the straw seems to be ‘Okuvlig’. It means indomitable or stiff in Swedish. That word explains the feature of that straw and addresses how strong and unbending it is so that the audience can believe that bamboo straw is long lasting.

The target audience of this advertisement is young people because they drink beverages at least once a day, and the atmosphere of the photo reminded me of the pictures that young people post on their Instagram. Fancy dishes, lemon, and mint in the photo look like what they use to take a picture for their boasting on SNS.

This advertisement succeeded in convincing me to buy the straw. It tells me if I get that straw I can take this kind of cool picture, I can protect the ocean by using it, also I can get this product at an affordable price. I will need to go to IKEA to buy this straw, and I can see so many other fancy things like this there. This is their marketing skill to convince people to buy things that they don’t really need. The more people are interested in greener products, the more marketers try to use that consciousness about climate change for their marketing.

Although this eco-friendly advertising depicts how well IKEA is aware of environmental responsibility, IKEA has been accused of greenwashing. IKEA sold children’s furniture made from wood linked to illegal logging in protected Siberian forests in Russia, an Earthsight investigation has found (Mongabay). IKEA’s most sustainable store – Sainsbury’s most sustainable supermarket Sainsbury’s Greenwich, the UK’s most sustainable supermarket, was demolished to build the IKEA store (Ravenscroft). It is contradictory that demolishing a building to build a sustainable building.

Greenwashing is a matter of truthfulness, authenticity, and responsibility. The key to solving the problem with ‘helping the ocean’ is in IKEA’s hand, not consumers’. They can introspect and check whether they have contradictory attitudes or not before using people’s interest in sustainability. There are many solutions IKEA can practice such as RE100, ESG, and Carbon neutral. It is true that there are sustainable products IKEA designs and makes. However, the problem is that eco-friendly marketing can influence people to be ignorant to the true solutions by reassuring people and hiding what they really are doing.

Works Cited

Ikea ‘fortune favours the frugal’ – mother – london. Mother. (2021, January 6). Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://motherlondon.com/work/ikea-fortune-favours-the-frugal/

Ferrón‐Vílchez, Vera, et al. “How Does Greenwashing Influence Managers’ Decision‐Making? an Experimental Approach under Stakeholder View.” Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, vol. 28, no. 2, 2020, pp. 860–880., https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2095.

Fernandes, Juliana, et al. “When Consumers Learn to Spot Deception in Advertising: Testing a Literacy Intervention to Combat Greenwashing.” International Journal of Advertising, vol. 39, no. 7, 2020, pp. 1115–1149., https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1765656.

Mongabay. “’Laundering Machine’: Furniture Giant IKEA Implicated in Logging Protected Siberian Forests.” Earth.Org, Earth.Org, 21 July 2021, https://earth.org/ikea-implicated-in-logging-protected-siberian-forests/.

Ravenscroft, Tom. “‘There’s Something Seriously Wrong with IKEA’s Most Sustainable Store.’” Dezeen, 8 Feb. 2022, https://www.dezeen.com/2019/02/28/ikea-most-sustainable-store-greenwich-sainsburys-chetwoods-opinion/.