Internet stunt aimed at poking fun at customers who regularly nap on the display furniture at the Swedish firm’s stores in mainland China. A Chinese comedian and his friends have released a video online of them of waking up customers sleeping in the furn
Internet stunt aimed at poking fun at customers who regularly nap on the display furniture at the Swedish firm’s stores in mainland China. A Chinese comedian and his friends have released a video online of them of waking up customers sleeping in the furniture displays at Ikea.
The comedian, Long Ge, filmed the stunt at an Ikea store in an unnamed city, rousing four people from their slumbers during the five-minute video.
The footage has received over 32,000 likes on social media and attracted 5,000 comments from internet users.
Chinese media have carried numerous stories in recent years about customers going to Ikea to sleep on the display beds and chairs.
Long said the idea behind the video was to poke fun at the customers and highlight what he termed their excessive and uncivilised behaviour which prevented others from browsing the furniture.
The comedian and his friends use several methods to wake up offending nappers, including throwing pillows around, loudly commenting on the bedding and lifting up mattresses to examine the bed frame. The people woken up appeared visibly annoyed to be disturbed from their slumbers.
Long Ge is an internet celebrity in China, with nearly 370,000 Weibo followers and is known for making short comedy videos poking fun at aspects of everyday life.
One person commenting on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, had a mixed reaction to the video. “There is a marketing strategy used by Ikea allowing customers try out beds for as long as they like, but I also think this
doesn’t respect people.”
Shoppers in China are regularly encouraged to “try out” furniture on display and many stay in giant furniture stores for hours to take advantage of the free air conditioning and comfy surroundings.
Ikea stores have proved massively popular among China’s burgeoning middle class and growing ranks of homeowners.
The Swedish furniture giant’s cheap cafeterias have also become a surprise hit with elderly Chinese in the big cities looking for a place to socialise.
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