IKEA International, Monday Cabinet

In this series that mocks designers, "Van den Puup, Elite Designer" speaks to the camera from his studio in a blue cap, as an assistant putts by on a Segway (an expensive personal transportation device).

"My latest creation is my Monday Cabinet," Van den Puup says in a pretentious manner, with an indistinct accent, stylish narrow glasses and a goatee.

"Creativity!" he shouts like a mad man, hands spread wide with billowing shirt sleeves, in front of a light appropriated from an operating room.

The next shot is of him at his design table, now in an orange hat/red pants, working with piles of crumpled paper on the floor around him, and his lap dog on the table.

"To create a cabinet like this was like climbing up a mountain whilst being on FIRE!" The designer absurdly hops around in his chair with a sheet of paper in his mouth. While writing in his journal with a quill pen, the long feather tickles his nose. "Every Monday for three months, I laugh, and I cry, and I SCREAM to create this cabinet!"

Now sitting by the pool, with his pooch, in a pink cap and fluffy white robe, he says, "But now I want to sell it to you for £1,200," he says, as he laughs slightly manically. (His assistant does Tae Chi in the background.) Turning on a dime, he gnashes his teeth as he says, "But there's this disgraceful thing going on with those dogs at Ikea!" Here, he grabs his own dog, sitting in his lap, close.

"They charge £29 for the same sort of cabinet!" He makes a high, shrieking noise. (His assistant does a martial arts hit of the Ikea price sign on a nearby cabinet.)

Now shouting at the top of his lungs, the designer yells, "£29! I hate them! The big, stupid, stupid place!" While throwing the temper tantrum, stomping his feet, one of his slippers even flops off.

The spot ends with a pink, circular logo for "Elite Designers Against Ikea" -- with an accompanying web site address. (The site is part of the campaign.)

Although the ad never deals directly in sexuality, at first it may seem to be a classic gay designer stereotype. What takes this ad, and campaign, to the next step is that the humor is not derived primarily on the man as a sissy, but more on his pretension, and occasional outbursts. In some cases, he appears slightly macho (although his silent assistant never does).