In a side-by-side comparison, a photo shows a happy woman and her child sitting on her son's new bunk bed with his arms around her and the caption, "Didn't pay her taxes on June 15" -- next to a woman sharing a prison cell with another woman, who aggressively has her arm around her with the caption, "Didn't pay her taxes on April 15th.

The implication to the ad, which ran as a half page in The Los Angeles Timesis that one simply enjoyed a sales tax break when buying a bed for her child, while the other is in jail for income tax evasion and in the lecherous grips of a predatory cell mate. The ad was quickly pulled after objection by the gay community, but IKEA said the ad was supposed to be funny.

"When we were creating the ad, we did not perceive it in an offensive way," said Gina Raiser, advertising manager for Ikea North America in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. "But as soon as this was brought to our attention, we felt we needed to pull the ad."

It is the ninth ad in Commercial Closet's worldwide collection of gay-themed ads from IKEA. The company famous for its 1994 ad showing a happy gay male couple hasn't shown consistency in its awareness of gay representation in its marketing messages.