If you’re a bit over downward dogs and Shavasana, IKEA Australia has got the solution for you, but not everyone’s happy about it.
Over the years IKEA has shown they like a good laugh. From their instructions for a pillow fort to getting the piss taken out of them by Koala. We all love a quick run down to flatpack heaven but unfortunately, someone’s a bit upset with the company.
The Universal Society of Hinduism is asking IKEA Australia to take down their new campaign video IKEA product pose Yoga. The cheeky video follows a yoga flow with new poses that mimic the shapes of IKEA products. The ad includes many household items including a martini glass, some barbeque tongs, and a stool.
Have a look here.
As reported by Campaign, Rajan Zed, the founder of the society, released a statement complaining that the video “unreasonably trivialised the ancient and serious discipline of yoga”.
He said, “Home furnishing companies should not be in the business of religious appropriation and mocking serious spiritual practices. Yoga is considered union with God, one of the six systems of Hindu philosophy, and meant for transforming consciousness and purification of the self and attaining liberation. This campaign video of IKEA Australia asks the viewer to ‘follow Eve as she takes you through product pose yoga by IKEA’ where she displays 15 yoga-asanas associating each with an Ikea product, like ‘Barbecue tongs’; with a background voice talking about ‘to quieten the internal fire we have awakened’; ending in Namaste with folded hands.”
While the video seems well-intentioned, it even says the flow aims to “help with health and wellness in the home”, obviously some people aren’t too keen.
So we want to know your thoughts? Are you a yogi and find this to be a little bit of a stretch or a downright dog move from IKEA? We want to know.
