Swedish furniture giant IKEA has said it will pull a television advert in China amid complaints from viewers of sexism.<br /><br />The 30-second commercial showed a Chinese mother telling her daughter: “don’t call me your mum if you can’t bring back a boyfriend.”<br /><br />When the daughter returned with a boyfriend, the family prepared a banquet, as a caption across the screen stated: “celebrate every day easily.”<br /><br />The advert was met with criticism on Chinese social media platform Weibo, with users describing it as “sexist”, “disappointing” and “twisted”.<br /><br />In a statement posted on its official Weibo account on Tuesday (October 24), IKEA said it understood concern over the advert and apologised “for giving the wrong perception”.<br /><br />“This TV ad tried to show how IKEA can help customers easily and affordably convert a typical living room into a place for celebration. The purpose was to help customers to celebrate moments in everyday life.<br /><br />“IKEA encourages people to live different lifestyles, and this belief is reflected in our product design and home furnishing solutions,” the statement said.<br /><br />The company added that it was thankful for the “candid feedback”, which had provided “a good opportunity… to learn and do better in the future”.
