No, this is not a satire. It is political correctness going wild. (Includes scary video).
The world’s largest furniture retailer, Swedish superstore Ikea, has been forced to remove a highly offensive picture of a little boy (see above) hung in one of its showrooms. This was after numerous shoppers were overcome with nausea, alarm, and trauma symptoms on seeng the controversial photo. This featured a small boy “mimicking Adolf Hitler” by putting his finger to his upper lip, thus giving the impression of a Hitler moustache.
Strenuous complaints were made to store management that this was a sinister attempt to sell DIY easy-fit furniture by attempting to glamorize Adolf Hitler and corner the neo-Nazi skinhead market. Several young schoolgirls on a visit from Israel are said to have fainted, though reliable accounts of such swooning fits have not been easy to corroborate.
According to the Daily Mail:
A picture of a young boy posing like Hitler caused outrage after it was seen hanging in an Ikea showroom. The black and white print was pictured on the wall of the store in Cardiff.
Ikea bosses quickly removed it after the error of judgementwas pointed out.
The picture was apparently one of four such pictures of the same grossly insensitive boy, though the other three pictures were apparently less controversial, containing no references to Nazi Germany.
Embarrassed Ikea bosses were galvanized into taking immediate action after the scandalous picture was brought to their attention. A full apology was issued forthwith, with assurances that it would never happen again. Our sources reveal that the boy concerned in this shocking prank was eventually tracked down to his home in a leafy suburb of Cardiff and questioned minutely as to his motives in posing for such a potentially dangerous and altogether unacceptable picture. He is reported to have muttered “No comment”, fuelling suspicions that he was not a very cooperative boy and needed careful watching.
The Daily Mail writes:
The print was spotted in a bedroom showroom by Stevie Davies-Evans, who posted a picture of it on Twitter. He tweeted to the furniture giant: “Saw this in a ‘Bedroom’ in your Cardiff store yesterday. Inappropriate much? #Hitler #Salute.”
The 33-year-old father told Wales Online: “It was quite a shock when I saw it. I caught it by fluke. It was one of four pictures in a row above a bed and it just caught my eye. I thought it was a bit weird because that pose has such negative connotations.”
He said he would not want his 11-year-old daughter to mimic the gesture, and continued: “It takes some balls to put that up. It is borderline inappropriate.“
“Borderline inappropriate” is of course an understatement.
Several of this writer’s female friends have experienced palpitations, pulse irregularities, and panic attacks on viewing the offensive picture. And they have sworn to boycott Ikea for the next few weeks as a punishment for subjecting them to such needless emotional distress.
Thankfully, calm has been restored and life goes on as usual after a hectic week of Hitler traumas. The Daily Mail, to its credit, has put our minds at ease with its reassurance that all’s well that ends well:
Store manager Richard Owen told Wales Online: “We can confirm that a photograph that could cause offence to some of our customers was found in our store. We often use photography to illustrate life at home in our room sets and as soon as we were made aware the image was immediately removed. We apologise for any offence the image may have caused.”
Ikea’s decision to remove the “suggestive” image sparked outrage on the web and was mocked in a series of tweets by British comedian Ricky Gervais. “If you are in a book shop and you see a book about Hitler,” the actor advised, “you should complain because it made you think of Hitler….. Let’s all try to get the most innocuous thing banned because it reminds us of something bad.”
Another commenter sarcastically suggested that fake beards sold at Ikea’s kid section were inappropriate as they brought to mind images of Osama bin Laden and other bearded terrorists. (See Comments section here)
The following picture was sent to me in the last few minutes by a deeply shocked correspondent of mine called “Lobro”. His comment left me shaken. I will not reveal its full content lest it prejudice the reader against two of the world’s most outstanding politicians:
HEIL HITLER!’
Please watch this short satirical sketch set in an Orwellian future world. This is remarkably like the world in which we live now. We’re not a bad as this—not yet!—but we’re getting there fast.
