In a case of Middle Eastern political correctness gone way too far for the Western world, Sweden-based international interior décor company Ikea has come under a firestorm of criticism after photo editors airbrushed all women out of the photos in the Saudi Arabian edition of its catalog. Now, a few days after the story first broke, Tumblr has turned the situation comedic by offering readers the chance to offer their own photoshopped images.
And some of the results have been hilarious.
On the blog, all viewers have to do is airbrush women out of an image and send it in. Some of the photos used as fodder have been of a rather mundane nature while others have been iconic. Remember the photo of the sailor kissing his girlfriend in Times Square upon the end of WWII? Well, the sailor is now passionately embracing a floor lamp. Other (among many hilarious) pieces of work include the Mona Lisa's face replaced with that of an old man, the Statue of Liberty replaced with a giant couch, and President Obama with a dresser instead of Michelle. Included with each photoshopped picture is the original.
As for the controversy itself, it all broke on Monday when it was noticed by some that the Saudi version of the Ikea catalog was missing something, namely all of the women who were present in pictures in the catalogs for all other countries. Swedish newspaper Metro did a story on the findings, publishing side-by-side images from the regular and Saudi versions of the catalog.
After the story broke, Ikea immediately released an apology for any offense taken to the Saudi catalog, essentially stating that the removal from women from the Saudi catalog is in conflict with the company's values and never should have taken place.
Swedish trade minster Ewa Björling, who was clearly not so accepting of the apology, commented that "it's impossible to retouch women out of reality."
No kidding.
So far, with the controversy still less than a week old, it remains to be seen how this advertising debacle will impact Ikea's reputation and sales.
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