IKEA International, Fortune Cookie

Members:

2001 Television 60% Report A Problem

A young man sits alone at a Chinese restaurant. Having just finished his meal, he's handed the bill with a fortune cookie on the tray.

Opening it, the message reads "Love is sitting right in front of you."

The man cheerfully looks up to see an overweight man stuffing his face with noodles, also sitting alone. The smile drops from his face as the chubby man turns to look at him, while his tongue clears food out of his mouth. Obviously, an unattractive option at best, though it could have simply been an unattractive woman instead of a man.

The young man then nervously looks around the restaurant as he catches the glance of a sexy, attractive woman at the bar -- she gives him a smile. The man, now excited, folds the fortune to read: "Love is sitting right of you" and smiles at his "fortune."

The screen text then reads "Change something."

IKEA spent between $40 million and $50 million on the overall multimedia campaign.

Company

IKEA International

Brand

IKEA

Industry

Retail

Media Outlet

Television

Country

United States

Region

North America

Agency

Carmichael Lynch

AdRespect Themes

Homo-queasy

User Comments

Todd Hill

I didn't see anything remotely gay about this ad. It's not as if the fat guy looked back at the main character with anything resembling a particular interest. A forgettable ad, yes, Gay negative? No.

Robert

IKEA spent between $40 million and $50 million on the overall multimedia campaign. They spent between $40 million to $50 million, and this was the best they could come up with?? And as for gay context, I didn't see it, either...

John

I do not understand what is so wrong with this ad, the fat man is not portrayed as gay, and if I were that guy with the fortune cookie, I would find the fortune amusing. I liked this ad, when I saw it on TV I never once thought it had anything to do with homosexuality, it was just a straight guy trying to make the best of his fortune, it is not like the cookies actually tell any truths. I do not think the guy in the ad is angry or hateful about the man in front of him, but obviously he is not to his liking, how is that negative? Most straight men are not attracted to men. If it were a fat woman, it would have been more demeaning to women in my opinion. It could have been a gay man in a suit and the commercial would have been the exact same, but since the sexuality of the man in front of him is unknown, and the man in front of him is really not becoming, I do not see anything wrong with it, if anything, I would think overweight people would find this to be offensive as it! It portrays overweight people as overeaters and gross if you want to make this commercial into anything more than what it really is. I think you are being a little "A" retentive on this one.

Simone Rodrigue

I understand what you're saying. But the fact is that if it were anything other than an overweight man is this ad, the ad would be considered more offensive. Why not put an overweight woman? Because that would be marginalizing all women, including conservatives, which is not great marketing sense. Why not have a skinny male? That would be blatantly homophobic, as there is nothing wrong with the man except that he's male. By making the other man overweight, he is made unattractive without making reference to the fear of possible homoerotic thoughts. And while it is true that straight men aren't attracted to other men, and that's okay, the nervousness of the man with the fortune seems to imply that he is taking his fortune seriously. Despite the fact that we all know fortunes aren't true. In addition, if he's worried about something, why is it so hard to conceive that it has anything to do with homosexuality? If homosexuality wasn't a part of it, then they could have just put an overweight women. This ad is not about being explicitly anti-gay, it's about using the fear of homosexuality to heighten the already existing joke.

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