You’d be forgiven for thinking this is a brilliant IKEA ad trying to cash in on the election results to sell a few more chairs. Many Australians did.
Shared widely across social media, people shared and even applauded IKEA for its timely, brazen dig at Mr Palmer’s extravagant advertising spend on his election campaign, while failing to win a single seat. Till it came to light, it was just a photoshopped gimmick that had nothing to do with the brand.
Meant as a joke, graphic designer Adrian Elton threw together this quick meme to poke fun at Mr Palmer’s epic fail. He told B&T magazine that he made the spoof “as an afterthought before crawling into bed”.
Something I just threw together. Namely the ad that Ikea should’ve been running nationally today 😛 #auspol #clivepalmer #election2019 #uap #ikea #spoof pic.twitter.com/jZBH44t2Rh
— Adrian Elton (@TheSurrealMcCoy) May 20, 2019
“I took the first screenshot of the ‘SNILLE’ chair (and then) it took all of 12 minutes to create,” – Adrian Elton
it turned out to be a stroke of creative genius, the hoax ad soon took social media by storm, retweeted by many notable Australians.
Brands can only dream about this kind of unexpected and free viral publicity. At the end of the day, thanks to this funny but fake ad, IKEA is the winner. The viral exposure got people talking, sharing and adding their own spin thanks to one designer’s clever photoshop effort going viral.
